The Avant-garde of Danish Art: Scharff, Lundstrøm and Willumsen

At the start of the 20th century, several Danish artists orientated themselves towards the new art movements in Europe. Based on the various ‘isms’ of the time, they formulated a modern idiom adapted to a Danish mentality. The radical breakthrough in Danish art was created by people such as William Scharff, Vilhelm Lundstrøm and Jens Ferdinand Willumsen, who also represent the vanguard at this summer's Live Auction in Copenhagen.

At this summer's Live Auction, we present a large number of works by the classic Danish modernists who with a broad outlook saw avant-garde art as a necessary and timely challenge. The term avant-garde means a military vanguard and is used to describe the many art movements or -isms that emerged on the European art scene in the early years of the 20th century. The isms arose simultaneously across national borders – Cubism in France, Futurism in Italy and Expressionism in Germany. Each -ism had its own forward-looking doctrines and ideas about the essence of art, but a common feature was the desire to create contemporary art and a distancing from the naturalistic form of presentation, which did not fit the worldview of modern man. A characteristic trait was also an experimental idiom and a radical use of colours and materials.

"Like a mighty phalanx, the "new art" advances: Frenchmen, Russians, Germans, Scandinavians, Poles, Spaniards. All the countries' artists are on the move. Art stands at the border of a new and rich country."

Axel Salto, the magazine "Klingen" (the blade), 1917.

Copenhagen as an Art Metropolis

The Danish artists travelled frequently to Europe's biggest cities. Here they could meet the most significant artists of the time and see their works. During the First World War, international travel was put on hold, but in return, Denmark's neutrality and continued trade meant an economic upturn, which led to a flourishing cultural life. In many ways, Copenhagen became the meeting place for avant-garde impulses – one reason for this was the German gallerist Herwarth Walden's travelling exhibitions of avant-garde art, which reached the Danish capital four times during the war years. At the same time, the Danish grain merchant and art collector Christian Tetzen-Lund opened his private home to the Danish artists. Here, the artists could experience the latest international art. The Danish modernists were organized around exhibition forums such as Den Frie Udstilling (The Free Exhibition), Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling (The Artists’ Autumn Exhibition) and the artist cooperative Grønningen, while the "Klingen" magazine became the most important Danish mouthpiece for the avant-garde. The works of the modernists created public outrage in the conservative art world to such an extent that Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling in 1918 led to one of the greatest art debates ever seen in Denmark – the so-called "Dysmorphism debate". The doctor Carl Julius Salomonsen constituted his own vanguard of a comprehensive critique of modern art, which he perceived as an expression of a contagious mental illness.

William Scharff: "Hønsebillede” (Chicken Painting), 1917. Signed. Oil on canvas. 80 x 97 cm. Estimate: DKK 500,000

Avant-garde Meets Danish Peasant Idyll

William Scharff (1886-1959) was educated at Zahrtmann's School, and in 1909 he travelled to Berlin. Later in 1911 he made it to the artistic melting pot of Paris, where he became acquainted with the Cubist idiom. In 1914, he met the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky, and in the papers that Scharff left behind, there is a translation of the Manifesto of Italian Futurism. Scharff was perhaps the artist most conscious of the avant-garde aspects of his work, and this also applies to a large extent to his "Chicken Paintings", one of which came under fire from doctor Salomonsen’s sharp words at the scandalous exhibition in 1918. At this summer's Live Auction, we present another of these dynamic "Chicken Paintings" from 1917-18, which, with the splitting and displacement of forms, is a wonderful union of international impulses from Cubism and Kandinsky's understanding of images and then a rural motif with chickens, which shows the influence of Scharff's upbringing with his grandparents in a traditional farming community in Tisvilde.

Vilhelm Lundstrøm: Self-portrait, 1924. Oil on canvas. 81 x 66 cm. Estimate: DKK 175,000-200,000.

A Selfie of Lundstrøm

A close-up of a man's face appears in a slanted angle and seen from below. The portrait undeniably evokes memories of today's photographic selfies but was created more than 100 years ago and depicts the artist Vilhelm Lundstrøm (1893-1950). This is one of his rare self-portraits from 1924, where the face is formed by simple geometric shapes such as the circle and the triangle and testifies to Lundstrøm's commitment to the calm and monumental expression of purism. The artist created some of the most radical attempts to incorporate the experimental ideas of the avant-garde into Danish art, and he was also part of the inner circle around the magazine "Klingen". At the aforementioned exhibition in 1918, it was his garbage collages, the so-called "Pakkassebileder" (packing box pictures), which, together with Scharff's chickens, were criticized the most. Also included in the auction is one of his classic still lifes, where the depicted objects are also reduced to colourful geometric shapes, just like in the portrait up for auction. Regardless of the motif, you can easily recognize the artist, as the works always appear with the special "Lundstrøm" expression.

Southern European Horror from an Out-and-out Modernist

Jens Ferdinand Willumsen (1863-1958) belongs to a slightly earlier generation of artists who embraced the new movements. He is considered one of the pioneers behind the Modern Breakthrough in Danish art and can be described as the first true out-and-out modernist in Denmark. At the same time, he was a multi-talented artist who created remarkable works as a painter, graphic artist, photographer, ceramicist, sculptor and architect. He spent most of his life living abroad, and during a trip to Spain he joined the almost cult-like worship of the Greco-Spanish 16th-century painter El Greco – an idolisation that is now being debated with the current exhibition "Cut and Paste: El Greco and Nordic Art 1885-1945" at Willumsen’s Museum. In the offered work “En rytter i en af Cordobas gader” (A horse rider in the streets of Cordoba) from 1915, we journey with him to the Andalusian city. The motif's strange proportions, distorted shadows and the menacing expression of the sky show the artist's play with mannerism and create an almost eerie scene around the black-bearded rider. Included in the auction are several of Willumsen’s works, for example a portrait of his wife Edith Willumsen from 1902.

J. F. Willumsen: “En rytter i en af Cordobas gader”. A Horse rider in the streets of Cordoba, 1915. Signed. Tempera on canvas. 83 x 105 cm. Estimate: DKK 500,000-600,000.

Oluf Høst: Blåkoldt (Blue cold), Bognemark, Bornholm, 1942-43. Oil on canvas. 90 x 147 cm. Estimate: DKK 500,000.

Additional Avant-garde Treasures up for Auction

At the auction, you can also experience fine works by the Bornholm painter Oluf Høst in the form of eminent versions of his motifs from Bognemark, a couple of Edvard Weie's depictions from Christiansø, Harald Giersing's “Mandolinspillerske” (Mandolin player) from 1920, beautiful still lifes by Olaf Rude and many other gems of the classic Danish modernists.