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Queering the History Painter: Concepts for Addressing »Gender« in Pre-Twentieth-Century Art at the National Gallery of Denmark

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 80; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00233609.2011.586132

1651-2294

Louise Wolthers,

Art, Politics, and Modernism

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgements This article is a result of the author's current research, which is generously financed by The Carlsberg Foundation. Notes 1. The new presentations of the permanent collection will be on display for a period of up to 10 years. One room is devoted to the theme of »gender«, and the author was–together with Henrik Holm, curator at the museum – given the curatorial responsibility for the room, which has now been labelled »Gender in Art«. 2. See for instance Nanette Salomon, »The Art Historical Canon: Sins of Omission«, in The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology, ed. Donald Preziosi, Oxford/NewYork, 1991, pp. 344–355. 3. See Nancy G. Heller, Women Artists: Works from the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, 2000. 4. Salomon, 1991, p. 350. 5. Griselda Pollock, Vision and Difference. Feminism, Femininity and the Histories of Art, London, 1988. 6. Griselda Pollock, Encounters in The Virtual Feminist Museum: Time, Space and the Archive, London, 2007, p. 14. 7. Griselda Pollock, »Towards the Virtual Feminist Museum«, in Elles[at]centrepompidou: Women artists in the collection of the musée national d'art moderne centre de creation industrielle, Paris, 2009, p. 328. 8. Griselda Pollock, 2009, pp. 323–324. 9. See Camille Morineau, »Elles[at]centrepompidou: Adressing Difference«, Elles[at]centrepompidou, op. cit. 10. See for instance Lone Høyer Hansen et al., eds, Før usynligheden – Om ligestilling i kunstverdenen, Copenhagen, 2005. 11. Patrick Steorn, »Queer in the museum«, Lambda nordica, Vol. 15, No. 3–4, 2010, p. 128. 12. It should be noted that women are represented in other parts of the presentation of the older collection – for instance Anna Ancher, Elizabeth Jerichau-Baumann and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen. 13. See Griselda Pollock, »Modernity and the Spaces of Femininity«, in Pollock, 1988, pp. 50–90. 14. See for instance Lynda Nead, The Female Nude. Art, Obscenity and Sexuality, London/New York, 1992 and Germaine Greer, The Boy, London, 2003. 15. Our intention behind the room is summed up in a wall text signed by the author. Additionally short analytical texts are mounted next to three key works which are emblematic of the three sub-themes. Finally the audience can choose to listen to a recording of a dialogue between art historian Rune Gade and artist Marianne Jørgensen who actualize the feminist thematic from each of their professional perspectives. 16. »Hans billeder besidder deres værdi, deres magt, ved deres faste maskuline holdning, ved deres evne til igennem en udpræget stærk form og en sikker bevæget tegning at kunne fortælle med et personligt kraftigt temperament, hvad autor har haft på hjerte.« Johan Rohde, »Kristian Zahrtmann«, in Særtryk af Ugens Tilskuer, København, 1917, p. 24 author's trans. 17. Rohde, 1917, p. 29. 18. »… har ikke saa meget tilovers for malende Kvinder... De kan kun i sjeldne Tilfælde offre sig for en Sag. I Virkeligheden finder der heller ikke Kunstnerinder i Verden. Sappho – ja, dengang har kvindens Dannelse været ganske anderledes stor. Og Sanger--, Skuespiller- og Danserinder er en helt anden Ting, de gengiver kun, hvad Andre har tænkt. Nej, hele mandens selvfornegtende ædruelige Kunst, derpaa er det vi leve og fryde os. « Letter, 1910, quoted in F. Hendriksen, Kristian Zahrtmann – En Mindebog, Copenhagen, 1919, pp. 552–553 author's trans. 19. Bram Dijkstra, Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-de-siècle Culture, New York, 1986, The p. 207. 20. The critic Axel E. Bøgh is quoted in Hanne Honnens de Lichtenberg, Zahrtmanns skole, Copenhagen, 1979, p. 65. 21. Charles Blanc, Grammaire des arts du dessin. Architecture – Sculpture – Peinture, Paris, 1867. 22. Berlingske Tidende, October 29, 1933. 23. Weilbach. Dansk kunstnerleksikon, Copenhagen, 1995. 24. Anne Lie Stokbro, Anna Ancher & Co. – de malende damer, Ribe, 2007, p. 114. 25. Rebecca Schneider, »Performance Remains”, Performance Research, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2001, p. 102. 26. Hanne Honnens de Lichtenberg, »Kristian Zahrtmann«, in Kristian Zahrtmann, ed. Mette Thelle, Viborg, 1999, p. 12 and Peter Michael Hornung, Ny dansk Kunsthistorie 4, Copenhagen, 1993, p. 156. 27. Morten Steen Hansen, Kristian Zahrtmann. En homoseksuel kunstneridentitet i Danmark ved århundredeskiftet og den kunstneriske fremstilling af homoseksualiteten i Nordeuropa, Københavns Universitet, 1993. 28. See for instance Hendriksen 1919, pp. 406–407 for a description of Zahrtmann's mental breakdown that resembles descriptions of female hysteria. 29. The locations of most of these pictures are unknown and I have only been able to find reproductions in catalogues, books, and at Danmarks Kunstbibliotek. 30. Erik Brodersen, »Zahrtmann og kunstværket mellem vitalisme og platonisme«, Kristian Zahrtmann, ed. Mette Thelle, Viborg, 1999, pp. 88–96. 31. Honnens de Lichtenberg, 1979, p. 48. 32. See Hansen, 1993, p. 72 ff. for an analysis of this painting and its homosexual connotations. 33. Hansen, 1993, p. 74. 34. Hansen, 1993, p. 74. 35. See for instance Honnens de Lichtenberg, 1999, p. 15. 36. Rohde, 1917 p. 31. 37. All paintings of Loke are only known as reproductions (seen at Danmarks Kunstbibliotek). 38. Stefanie Muhr, Der Effekt des Realen. Die historische Genremalerei des 19. Jahrhunderts, Cologne, 2006. 39. Kristian Zahrtmann, »Arbejdsaar«, Tilskueren, January, Copenhagen, 1914, p. 322. 40. Quoted from Bente Scavenius, Den frie Udstilling i 100 år, Vlaby, 1991, p. 104. 41. Hansen, 1993, p. 60. 42. For biographical information see Susanna Åkerman, Queen Christina of Sweden and her Circle, Leiden, 1991. 43. Hansen, 1993. He refers to an article in Politiken from 1906 or 1907 in which Zahrtmann tells how Queen Christina was thought to be a boy at birth and how she later appropriated masculine behaviour, clothing etc. 44. Åkerman, 1991, p. 301. 45. Hansen, 1993, p. 60. 46. Lilian H. Zirpolo writes about Queen Christina: »She enjoyed theatrical display and placed the pieces in her collection in such a way as to invoke references to her interests and her self«. Lilian H. Zirpolo, »Christina of Sweden's Patronage of Bernini: The Mirror of Truth Revealed by Time«, Woman's Art Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1, Spring/Summer 2005, p. 39.