BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (NPG) -- Exhibit: Portraits of the World: Denmark

DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (NPG) -- Exhibit: Portraits of the World: Denmark:

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Description of Pictures: Portraits of the World: Denmark
December 13, 2019 – October 12, 2020
Portraits of the World: Denmark, the third iinstallation in our international portrait series, highlights Danish artist Michael Ancher's "Kunstdommere." This monumental group portrait of four of Denmark's most significant cultural figures, several of whom contributed to the Modern Breakthrough that transformed Danish art and literature during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, speaks to the transnational phenomenon of artsits' communities, which advanced art in Denmark as well as in the United States. NPG will display works from the collection to develop further the theme of artistic communities as incubators of modernism. The art-judging theme of Kunstdommere ties in with our triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, the exhibition of which will be on display in an adjacent gallery.

Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon

underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.

Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

Accessing as Spider: The system has identified your IP as being a spider.
IP Address: 3.133.160.249 -- Domain: Amazon Technologies
I love well-behaved spiders! They are, in fact, how most people find my site. Unfortunately, my network has a limited bandwidth and pictures take up bandwidth. Spiders ask for lots and lots of pages and chew up lots and lots of bandwidth which slows things down considerably for regular folk. To counter this, you'll see all the text on the page but the images are being suppressed. Also, some system options like merges are being blocked for you.
Note: Permission is NOT granted for spiders, robots, etc to use the site for AI-generation purposes. I'm sure you're thrilled by your ability to make revenue from my work but there's nothing in that for my human users or for me.
If you are in fact human, please email me at guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can check if your designation was made in error. Given your number of hits, that's unlikely but what the hell.

Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]

Share: Facebook Twitter Digg
[1] DENMRK_191215_002.JPG	[2] DENMRK_191215_008.JPG	[3] DENMRK_191215_015.JPG
[4] DENMRK_191215_018.JPG	[5] DENMRK_191215_019.JPG	[6] DENMRK_191215_022.JPG
[7] DENMRK_191215_025.JPG	[8] DENMRK_191215_033.JPG	[9] DENMRK_191215_036.JPG
[10] DENMRK_191215_042.JPG	[11] DENMRK_191215_052.JPG	[12] DENMRK_191215_056.JPG
[13] DENMRK_191215_060.JPG	[14] DENMRK_191215_062.JPG	[15] DENMRK_191215_068.JPG
[16] DENMRK_191215_075.JPG	[17] DENMRK_191215_080.JPG	[18] DENMRK_191215_083.JPG
[19] DENMRK_191215_085.JPG	[20] DENMRK_191215_089.JPG	[21] DENMRK_191215_097.JPG
[22] DENMRK_191215_105.JPG	[23] DENMRK_191215_113.JPG	[24] DENMRK_191215_125.JPG
[25] DENMRK_191215_128.JPG	[26] DENMRK_191215_136.JPG	[27] DENMRK_191215_146.JPG
[28] DENMRK_191215_149.JPG	[29] DENMRK_191215_152.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. DENMRK_191215_002.JPG: Portraits of the World
2. DENMRK_191215_008.JPG: Art Judges (left to right) Laurits Tuxen, Peder Severin Kroyer, Holger Drachmann, Jens Willumsen Like other artists involved in Denmark's Modern Breakthrough, Michael Ancher painted realistic scenes of contemporary life, often representing people at work. Kunstdommere (Art Judges) depicts an everyday scene in the artists' colony at Skagen, showing several colleagues on a visit to Peder Severin Kr�yer's studio. Kr�yer, in the white suit, gestures toward his unseen portrait of the poet and dramatist Holger Drachmann, who listens intently, hands resting on his cane. In a playful display of one-upmanship, Ancher's group portrait not only includes his own depiction of Drachmann, but also represents Kr�yer himself, along with two other preeminent Danish painters, Laurits Tuxen (left) and Jens Willumsen (right). The presence of Willumsen adds a further layer of artistic competition. The younger artist had begun to explore imaginative, often symbolic imagery that nudged Danish art toward greater abstraction -- a radical turn from the realism promoted by Kr�yer, Drachmann, and Tuxen. Michael Ancher, 1906 The Danish Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerod, Denmark
3. DENMRK_191215_025.JPG: The Modern Breakthrough in Danish Art
4. DENMRK_191215_033.JPG: The Modern Breakthrough in American Art
5. DENMRK_191215_036.JPG: Agnes Ernst Meyer An interview with the art impresario Alfred Stieglitz piqued Agnes Ernst Meyer's interest in European modernism and prompted her to leave her job at the New York Sun, where she had served as the newspaper's first female reporter. She traveled to Paris in 1908 to study the latest art trends, and upon her return to New York City sixteen months later, she became a member of Stieglitz's modernist circle, which also included the artist Marius de Zayas. Meyer worked with de Zayas to establish the Modern Gallery and the avant-garde arts journal 291, named after Stieglitz's renowned gallery. She also encouraged de Zayas to experiment with abstract portraiture, which was inspired by the Cubist break with optical reality. In this depiction, oval forms suggest Meyer's facial features, while curving lines allude to her body. De Zayas often portrayed Stieglitz and members of his circle, including painter John Marin and photographer Paul Haviland. Marius de Zayas, c 1912-13
6. DENMRK_191215_042.JPG: The Picnic Mexican-born artist Marius de Zayas was closely associated with the avant-garde circle surrounding Alfred Stieglitz, the photographer and founder of 291, one of New York City's most important galleries. In this 1912 drawing, de Zayas shows his companions careening precariously downhill on a hay wagon. He probably made the watercolor at Seven Springs, a farm near Mount Kisco, New York, owned by patrons Agnes Ernst Meyer and Eugene Meyer. In addition to the artist Katharine Rhoades in the driver's seat, Agnes directly behind, and Eugene in the rear, the figures include Stieglitz, his wife Emmeline, painter John Marin, photographer Paul Haviland, and de Zayas himself (in a cap). The vivid colors and lively tangle of geometric forms convey the group's high-spirited, playful side. But unset tling aspects of the scene hint at tensions within the group. Judging from a few nervous gestures and expressions, not everyone is enjoying this out-of control ride. Marius de Zayas, 1912 Sitters: * Katharine Nash Rhoades, 30 Nov 1885 - 26 Oct 1965 * Agnes Elizabeth Ernst Meyer, 02 Jan 1887 - 01 Sep 1970 * Emmeline Obermeyer Stieglitz, 1873 - 1953 * John B. Kerfoot, 1865 - 1927 * Alfred Stieglitz, 1 Jan 1864 - 13 Jul 1946 * Marius de Zayas, 1880 - 1961 * John Marin, 23 Dec 1870 - 2 Oct 1953 * Paul Burty Haviland, 1880 - 1950 * Eugene Isaac Meyer, 31 Oct 1875 - 17 Jul 1959
7. DENMRK_191215_062.JPG: Ici, c'est ici Stieglitz / foi et amour Alfred Stieglitz, 1864-1946 "Here, this is Stieglitz here / faith and love," reads the translated French title of this satiric depiction of photographer Alfred Stieglitz. Published in 1915, as the cover of the avant-garde American journal 291, the original collage was one of a series of witty "mecanomorphs," or machine portraits, by French artist Francis Picabia, soon to become a leading figure in the developing Dada art movement in New York City. The journal's title derived from Stieglitz's 291 Gallery on Fifth Avenue, a social and creative hub for modernists -- many of whom Picabia docu mented in his Mecanomorph series. In this symbolic portrait of Stieglitz, Picabia used the imagery of machine parts and technical manuals to deflate his subject's pretentions. He depicts Stieglitz as a limp and broken camera striving toward, but not reaching, the "Ideal." The portrait also includes an automobile gearshift lodged in neutral and an engaged hand brake, suggesting that Stieglitz was going nowhere. Francis Picabia, 1915
8. DENMRK_191215_068.JPG: Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, and Tony Smith This photograph represents three pioneers in the field of abstract art, who were also close friends and collaborators. The painters Barnett Newman (1905–1970; left) and Jackson Pollock (1912–1956; center) and the architect (later sculptor) Tony Smith (1912–1980; right) met in the late 1940s and bonded through their efforts to expand the parameters of contemporary art. Pollock debuted his classic drip pour paintings in 1947; Newman created his signa ture "zip" (a band of vertical color) in 1948; and Smith drew on his architectural experience to install their work at the gallery of Betty Parsons -- one of the few dealers willing to represent such unconventional artists at the time. Hans Namuth photographed the three friends in 1951, sitting on a bench outside Newman's second solo exhibition at Parsons's Midtown gallery. The complexity of their relationship is suggested by Newman's remark that everything he did "had meaning only in relation to Pollock's work and against it." Hans Namuth, 1951
9. DENMRK_191215_075.JPG: De Kooning Breaks Through Willem de Kooning, 1904-1997 Red Grooms's witty portrait of Willem de Kooning celebrates the achievements of this Abstract Expressionist, whose paintings of the 1950s were a formative influence on Grooms. Replete with visual puns, the work shows de Kooning literally "breaking through" the surface of the print, suggesting the transformative nature of de Kooning's artistic contribution. Grooms's composition specifically references de Kooning's Woman and Bicycle (1952–53), one of a series of Woman paintings that integrated imagery from popular culture, such as pinup girls and advertisements, into a fine art context, bridging the divide between abstraction and figuration. Similar dynamics animate Grooms's lithograph. The sense of playfulness, frenetic movement, and violent tearing of paper suggest the humor and energy of an animated cartoon. By combining the brushwork of action painting with the unexpected three-dimensional folding of paper, Grooms created a likeness as layered with cultural references as de Kooning's paintings. Red Grooms, 1987
10. DENMRK_191215_085.JPG: Hans Hofmann, 1880-1966 Hans Hofmann was one of the twentieth century's most influential art teachers and a key figure in the development of abstraction in American art. Early in his career, Hofmann associated with avant-garde artists in Paris and later operated a modernist art school in Munich. After relocating to New York City, he taught briefly at the Art Students' League and in 1934 established the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts in Midtown Manhattan. Through his detailed critiques of individual works, Hofmann pushed students to strive for greater technical rigor, but he allowed them free rein to pursue individual expression and experimentation. "There were so many different approaches to painting and drawing going on side by side and you had the feeling anything was possible," Abstract Expressionist Michael Goldberg later recalled. This photograph shows Hofmann conducting a group critique at the summer art school he opened in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 1935. Bill Witt, 1948
11. DENMRK_191215_089.JPG: Elaine de Kooning Willem de Kooning Hans Namuth, 1953
12. DENMRK_191215_097.JPG: Memory "Paint what you feel. Paint what you see. Paint what is real to you." With that directive, the charismatic painter Robert Henri (1865–1929) persuaded a generation of American artists to dispense with time-honored European traditions and find fresh inspiration in the daily life of New York City. Together with John Sloan, whom he met in 1892, Henri led a rebellious group of painters who became known as the Ashcan School for their depictions of the gritty realities of urban life. Sloan and Henri's shared dedication to realism strengthened their close friendship. The intimacy and productivity of their partnership is captured in this group portrait of the artists and their wives. While Sloan (right) and Henri (left) concentrate on drawing, Dolly Sloan (1876–1943) reads aloud and Linda Henri (1875–1905) gazes at the viewer. Linda's death the previous year accounts for the print's wist fully nostalgic title, Memory. John Sloan, 1906
13. DENMRK_191215_105.JPG: Class Work in the Art Students' League Etching Class This scene of diligent art-making depicts the etching class at the Art Students' League. According to the handwritten inscription, it was drawn, etched, and printed in that class by Marion D. Freeman. The Art Students' League was the only art school in New York City to offer formal etching instruction, and it became an incubator for innovative printmaking. Women -- marginalized at other art schools -- came into their own as printmakers at the League. Freeman and caricaturist Peggy Bacon (1895-1987) were among those who depicted contemporary subjects in a lively, simplified style that tended toward satire. Individuality and experimentation were encouraged by their dynamic teacher, Robert Henri (1865–1929), who appears here, cranking the wheel of the printing press, and by Henri's close collaborator, John Sloan (1871–1951), shown sketching on a pad opposite Freeman and her colleague Wanda Gag (1893-1946). Marion D. Freeman, c 1917-23
14. DENMRK_191215_113.JPG: Zum Brauhaus Speakeasies, or illegal bars, sprang up in New York City during the Prohibition era (1920–1933), becoming favorite hangouts for many artists. The painter George Biddle peppered his diaries with accounts of late-night sessions at various underground establishments, where he and his artist friends met to drink, smoke, and argue about art. In 1933, as Prohibition neared its end, Biddle painted a series of speakeasy scenes, often including witty portraits of colleagues. Here, he depicts an evening at Zum Brauhaus. Biddle's wife, sculptor H�l�ne Sardeau (1899–1969), sits beside the pipe smoking painter Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1889–1953). The caricaturist Peggy Bacon (1895–1987) smokes a cigarette at far right, while her husband, artist Alexander Brook (1898–1980), stands at the bar behind her. While working on this series, Biddle lobbied government officials to adopt his plan for employing painters during the Depression -- an idea that ultimately became the Works Progress Administration (WPA). George Biddle, 1933
15. DENMRK_191215_128.JPG: Frenzied Effort Peggy Bacon's keenly observed, witty images capture the camaraderie of artists' communities in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s. In this print, she represents the "frenzied effort" of art students packed into a claustrophobic sketching class at the Whitney Studio Club on West Fourth Street. Established in 1918 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, the Club provided artists with exhibition space, a library, and the opportunity to sketch from live models. Whereas traditional art schools and academies segregated women and men, at the Whitney they worked side by side as equals. Among the identifiable caricatures are Mabel Dwight (1876–1955) in a large hat (seated, left) and the balding, rotund Reginald Marsh (1898–1954; top left center). Bacon's diminutive figure is tucked discretely behind Marsh. As a communal gathering place where artists could share their work and exchange ideas, the Whitney Studio Club helped accelerate modern art trends. Peggy Bacon, 1925
16. DENMRK_191215_136.JPG: Greetings from the House of Weyhe Weyhe Gallery on Lexington Avenue was one of the first exhibition venues in New York City to showcase the unconventional work of up-and-coming modern artists. Established by Erhard Weyhe (1882–1972) in 1919, it was also one of the few to consistently feature art by women. Although the gallery's exhibitions included drawings and sculptures, the Weyhe made its mark as a center for printmaking, publishing, and exhibiting contemporary lithographs and other print media. Each year, the Weyhe commissioned a holiday greeting card from one of its artists. In this example, made in 1928, Mabel Dwight depicts the eclectic array of art and books typically displayed on the gallery's second floor. Along with two of her print making colleagues -- Peggy Bacon (1895–1987; seated, left) and Wanda Gag (1893–1946; standing, right) -- Dwight wittily represents the gallery's director, Carl Zigrosser (1891–1975), leaning against a low bookcase, his bowed head echoing the sculpted bust behind him. Mabel Dwight, 1928
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].