Johannes Larsen (27 December 1867 – 20 December 1961) was a Danish nature painter.
Biography
Larsen was born in
Kerteminde
Kerteminde (nickname: ''Min Amandas by'', i.e. ''My Amanda's town''), is a town in central Denmark, located in Kerteminde Municipality on the island of Funen. The town has a population of 6,042 (1 January 2022). on
Funen
Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...
, Denmark. He was the son of Jeppe Andreas L. and Vilhelmine Christine Bless. His father was a merchant.
Larsen studied art at the Free School in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
under
Kristian Zahrtmann
Peder Henrik Kristian Zahrtmann, known as Kristian Zahrtmann, (31 March 1843 – 22 June 1917) was a Denmark, Danish Painting, painter. He was a part of the Danish artistic generation in the late 19th century, along with Peder Severin Krøyer and ...
(1843–1917) in the 1880s. There he met other painters from Funen, notably
Fritz Syberg
Christian Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Syberg, generally known as Fritz Syberg, (28 July 1862, Fåborg – 20 December 1939, Kerteminde) was a Danish painter and illustrator, one of the or Funen Painters (''Fynboerne'') living and working on the ...
(1862–1939) and
Peter Marius Hansen (1868-1928), both from the southern port of
Faaborg
Faaborg or Fåborg () is an old port town located on Faaborg Fjord in Faaborg-Midtfyn municipality on the island of Funen in Denmark. By road, Faaborg is located southwest of Odense, west-northwest of Svendborg, and roughly southeast of Midd ...
, and the
Funish Painters group (''Fynboerne'') was born. They went on to create an art colony that influenced many Danish and Swedish artists and brought them success.
In 1898, he was married to the painter
Alhed Maria Warberg (1872–1927). Between 1901-02, the artist couple built their home on Møllebakken in
Kerteminde
Kerteminde (nickname: ''Min Amandas by'', i.e. ''My Amanda's town''), is a town in central Denmark, located in Kerteminde Municipality on the island of Funen. The town has a population of 6,042 (1 January 2022). . Their home became the gathering place in summer months for many painters, particularly younger artists from Zahrtmann's school.
Their ideal was to paint outdoors, not just sketching but painting in all kinds of weather. Their paintings have a freshness and energy not previously seen, except in sketches. Once they became successful, they were attacked by symbolist artists for being "farmer painters" in a newspaper debate in 1907. This only brought the Funish group more sympathy, especially from a group of authors working from the provinces in Jutland. Their chief spokesman was
Johannes V. Jensen
Johannes Vilhelm Jensen (20 January 1873 – 25 November 1950) was a Danish author, known as one of the great Danish writers of the first half of 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1944 "for the rare strength and fert ...
(1873-1950) who won the
Nobel Prize for Literature
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, caption =
, awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature
, presenter = Swedish Academy
, holder = Annie Ernaux (2022)
, location = Stockholm, Sweden
, year = 1901
, ...
in 1930.
In 1910, businessman Mads Rasmussen (1856-1916), who operated a successful cooperative canning factory in Faaborg, decided to start a museum for Funish Art next to his canning factory. He created the Faaborg Museum, which still exists, and gave the Funish painters a boost, both by making their works available to a broad public and by supporting them financially.
Kristian Zahrtmann exhorted all his students to paint in Italy; now some of them could afford to do so, and the Syberg and Hansen families enjoyed extended stays there. Larsen and his wife, Alhed Warberg Larsen, built a large studio and traveled mostly in Scandinavia.
Larsen was mainly heralded as a bird painter, before this was a familiar genre in Scandinavia. He popularized images of birds, particularly through his woodcuts and smaller paintings. Later he received commissions to illustrate books and paint large paintings for public buildings, such as the Queen's receiving room at
Christiansborg Castle (seat of the
Danish Parliament
The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands an ...
) and the
City Hall of Odense, capital city of
Funen
Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...
.
There were several female Funish painters, struggling to be considered along with their male counterparts with greater or lesser success. They were Alhed Warberg Larsen,
Anna Hansen Syberg (1870–1914) and Christine Larsen Swane (1876–1960), the wives/sisters of Larsen, Fritz Syberg and Peter Hansen. Their paintings are considered worthy of inclusion in many museums and collections today, though at the time they had a hard time exhibiting on an equal footing with their male colleagues.
Christine Swane
Christine Swane née Christine Larsen (29 May 1876 in Kerteminde – 16 August 1960 in Farum) was a Danish painter who first associated with the Funen Painters before developing her own increasingly Cubist style.
Biography
Christine Swane was th ...
, who lived the longest, became a member of the artist cooperative called Corner when she was 60 and enjoyed great success in her later years.
The work of all these artists can be seen at the
Johannes Larsen Museum in
Kerteminde
Kerteminde (nickname: ''Min Amandas by'', i.e. ''My Amanda's town''), is a town in central Denmark, located in Kerteminde Municipality on the island of Funen. The town has a population of 6,042 (1 January 2022). , the
Faaborg Museum in
Faaborg
Faaborg or Fåborg () is an old port town located on Faaborg Fjord in Faaborg-Midtfyn municipality on the island of Funen in Denmark. By road, Faaborg is located southwest of Odense, west-northwest of Svendborg, and roughly southeast of Midd ...
, the
Statens Museum for Kunst
The National Gallery of Denmark ( da, Statens Museum for Kunst, also known as "SMK", literally State Museum for Art) is the Danish national gallery, located in the centre of Copenhagen.
The museum collects, registers, maintains, researches and han ...
(National Art Museum) in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
,
Funen's Art Museum in
Odense
Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...
, as well as in many other museums and collections.
References
Other sources
*Erland Porsmose (1999) ''Johannes Larsen, Menneske, Kunstner og Naturoplever'' (Copenhagen: Gyldendal)
External links
The Johannes Larsen Museum - on official website for Kerteminde Museums*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Larsen, Johannes
1867 births
1961 deaths
Danish bird artists
People from Kerteminde
Recipients of the Thorvaldsen Medal
19th-century Danish painters
Danish male painters
20th-century Danish painters
19th-century Danish male artists
20th-century Danish male artists