Svend Rathsack (8 September 1885 in
Fredericia – 14 December 1941 in
Frederiksberg) was a Danish sculptor.
Early life
Rathsack studied painting at the
Danish Academy (1903-1907) under
Otto Bache,
Frants Henningsen,
August Jerndorff and
Viggo Johansen
Viggo Johansen (3 January 1851 – 18 December 1935) was a Danish painter and active member of the group of Skagen Painters who met every summer in the north of Jutland. He was one of Denmark's most prominent painters in the 1890s.
Early life an ...
before continuing at the Academy's Decoration School until 1911 under
Joakim Skovgaard
Joakim Frederik Skovgaard (18 November 1856 – 9 March 1933) was a Danish painter. He is remembered above all for the frescos which decorate Viborg Cathedral.
Biography
Born in Copenhagen, from an early age he was trained in drawing and paintin ...
.
[Dorthe Falcon Møller, "Svend Rathsack"]
''Kunstindeks Danmark & Weilbachs kunstnerleksikon''. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
Career
After beginning his artistic career as a painter, Rathsack turned exclusively to sculpture in 1913. ''Adam'', his first statue, showns his interest in ancient Greek art which he had developed while studying the Royal Cast Collection (''Den_Kongelige_Afstobningssamling''). In 1914, while he was in Paris, Rathsack met
Johannes Bjerg
Johannes Clausen Bjerg (26 January 1886 – 17 February 1955) was a Danish sculptor who worked primarily in the El Greco-style.
Early life
Born in Ødis near Kolding, Bjerg attended the Latin School in Kolding before serving an apprenticeship ...
who became an important influence for him. On returning to Denmark, he crafted works similar to those completed by Bjerg and
Einar Utzon-Frank prior to 1920. In 1921, Rathsack travelled to Java where he sculpted a fine black marble bust of ''Babu Ani''.
[
In 1924, he won a competition for a '' Maritime Monument'' on Langelinie, part of Copenhagen's waterfront. The work, which he completed together with ]Ivar Bentsen
Ivar Bentsen (13 November 1876 – 21 May 1943) was a Danish architect and educator. He was a central figure in the Bedre-Byggeskik movement and succeeded Carl Petersen as a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts's School of Archit ...
, was unveiled in 1928. It consists of a number of narrative reliefs topped by a large winged female figure depicting Memory.[Hanne Abildgaard, "Modernitet og Menneske" in "Dansk Skulptur i 125 år", Copenhagen, Gyldendal, 1996, p. 116 et seq.] He went on to receive several more public commissions, including a monument to the composer Hans Christian Lumbye
Hans Christian Lumbye (; 2 May 1810 – 20 March 1874) was a Danish composer of waltzes, polkas, mazurkas and galops, among other things.
Beginnings
As a child, he studied music in Randers and Odense, and by age 14 he was playing the trumpet in a ...
in the Tivoli Gardens
Tivoli Gardens, also known simply as Tivoli, is an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the third-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampe ...
(1930). Built on his own initiative, the Greenland Monument (1938) on Christianshavns Torv in Christianshavn
Christianshavn (literally, "ingChristian's Harbour") is a neighbourhood in Copenhagen, Denmark. Part of the Indre By District, it is located on several artificial islands between the islands of Zealand and Amager and separated from the rest of th ...
, along with a monument to the Faroe Islands, had been in his thoughts as early as the 1920s. But it was only after a trip to Greenland in 1931 that his plans won the approval of Copenhagen's authorities. The work consists of a Greenlander standing before his kayak, placed high on a pedestal above two groups of working women. Rathsack's last works were the ''Standing Woman'' 940-41and the ''Hunter'' (1941), both testifying to his continuing interest in the possibilities offered by standing figures.["Svend Rathsack"]
''Den Store Danske''. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
Awards
Rathsack was awarded the Thorvaldsen Medal in 1941.[
]
See also
*Danish sculpture
Danish sculpture as a nationally recognized art form can be traced back to 1752 when Jacques Saly was commissioned to execute a statue of King Frederick V of Denmark on horseback. While Bertel Thorvaldsen was undoubtedly the country's most promi ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rathsack, Svend
Danish sculptors
1885 births
1941 deaths
Artists from Copenhagen
20th-century sculptors
People from Fredericia