Staged nature and life
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Jens Ferdinand Willumsen – the late works
October 10, 2020 - January 31, 2021
Jens Ferdinand Willumsen, 1917
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1919
During the First World War, the German artists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) and Jens Ferdinand Willumsen (1863-1958) each chose to realize their own individualistic projects and to stand outside the currents of the times. From 1917, the Swiss mountains became the refuge of the mentally broken Kirchner, while Willumsen settled in the South of France in 1916 and calmed down, as he expressed it many years later. Neither of the two returned to their respective homelands, but devoted the rest of their lives to pursuing a personal artistic vision in self-imposed exile.
J.F. Willumsen
Mountain peak, Switzerland, 1926
Oil on canvas, 53,5 × 73,5 cm
Gallery Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Section of Die Brücke bei Wiesen
(The Bridge at Wiesen), 1926
Oil on canvas, 120 × 120 cm
Kirchner Museum Davos
The juxtaposition of Kirchner and Willumsen provides a visually compelling and new perspective on an intense, colorful and personal vision of figurative painting in the period from the 1910s to the 1930s. It shows similarities and connections between the two artists, both in terms of their production, artistic vision and artistic identity. Their late works were created in the aftermath of the heyday of expressionism, when new avant-garde movements had taken center stage on the art scene. During the same period, Kirchner and Willumsen chose to follow a surprisingly similar artistic direction. Their mountain landscapes and figurative paintings bear witness to the influence of the vitalist cultural current that ran through Europe, as well as a period-typical influence from the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Both artists staged nature and man in nature in their paintings, but they were also strongly self-conscious, staged themselves as artists and tried to control the reception of their work and legacy through an exorbitant self-mythologisation.
*****
“This excellent exhibition and accompanying catalogue, where Willumsen and Kirchner are juxtaposed, shows what they can do, together and separately, with a shattering and never-fading energy. Expressive.”
Henrik Wivel, Christian Daily, November 6, 2020
“Color orgies and eminent drawings shine in competition with the embrace of photographs, with the orgies of reality and the breathtaking cloud formations of the mountain air. It draws you up to a storm inside the soul, but you are calmed by the sensitive delicacy of the artistry. It is Masterful”
Erik Steffensen, Weekend newspaper, October 16, 2020
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Nude in Orange and Yellow
(Nude model in orange and yellow),
1929 - 30
Oil on canvas, 91 × 71 cm
Kirchner Museum Davos
J.F. Willumsen
Lola dancing, 1921
Oil on canvas, 155 × 135 cm
Willumsen's Museum,
Frederikssund
With the exhibition Staged nature and life. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Jens Ferdinand Willumsen – the late works This is the first time that an exhibition and accompanying book relate Willumsen's work to contemporary trends in the field. German art scene – and more specifically to one of the most important representatives of German expressionism, namely the visual artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The exhibition is also the first major presentation of Kirchner at a Danish museum.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Jens Ferdinand Willumsen – the late works. Staged nature and life
Edited by Anne Gregersen, with contributions from Anders Ehlers Dam, Uwe Fleckner, Anne Gregersen, Jill Lloyd, Lisbeth Lund, Carsten Thau, published by Hatje Cantz >>
Released Oct 9, 2020
Price: DKK 330
Graphic design: Carl-HK Zakrisson
Danish, English and German version
208 pages, approximately 130 illustrations
softcover
24,00 x 27,30 cm
Dansk: ISBN 978-3-7757-4675-5
Engelsk: ISBN 978-3-7757-4673-1
Tysk: ISBN 978-3-7757-4674-8
Exhibition and book publication are supported by:
June 15 Foundation, Aage and Johanne Louis-Hansen Foundation, Augustinus Foundation, Beckett Foundation,
Goethe-Institut Denmark, Knud Højgaard's Foundation and Consul George Jorck and Wife Emma Jorck's Foundation
“Staged nature and life. Ernst Ludvig Kirchner and JF Willumsen – the late works” is part of the Danish-German Friendship Year 2020.
Konsul George Jorck og Hustru Emma Jorck’s Fond
