Rudolph Tegner (12 July 1873 – 5 June 1950) was a Danish sculptor linked to the Symbolist movement. In the early 20th century his work caused considerable controversy in Denmark. A large number of his works are on display in the

Rudolph Tegner Museum The Rudolph Tegner Museum is set in the middle of a protected area just south of Dronningmølle on Zealand's north coast, some 50 km north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The museum is dedicated to the oeuvre of the sculptor Rudolph Tegner (1873–1 ...

north of

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 ...

Biography

Tegner was born in

. He was the son of politician and businessman Jørgen Henry August Tegner and his wife Signe Elisabeth Puggaard. He was trained at the

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi - Billedkunst Skolerne) has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Dan ...

. He travelled to Greece and to Italy as a young man, where he was particularly impressed by Michelangelo's sculptures in the

Medici Chapel The Medici Chapels (''Cappelle medicee'') are two structures at the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, and built as extensions to Brunelleschi's 15th-century church, with the purpose of celebrating ...

. His first major work, ''A Faun'' (1891) was installed at

Charlottenburg Palace Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace) is a Baroque palace in Berlin, located in Charlottenburg, a district of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough. The palace was built at the end of the 17th century and was greatly expanded during th ...

. From 1890 to 1893 he collaborated with the Norwegian sculptor

Gustav Vigeland Gustav Vigeland (11 April 1869 – 12 March 1943), born as Adolf Gustav Thorsen, was a Norwegian sculptor. Gustav Vigeland occupies a special position among Norwegian sculptors, both in the power of his creative imagination and in his product ...

, and then moved to Paris, where he resided until 1897. Tegner's sculptures developed the stylistic innovations of Art Nouveau and the erotic realism of Auguste Rodin. This caused widespread debate in Denmark, which was still heavily influenced by the restrained neo-classical ideals of Bertel Thorvaldsen. Tegner, in contrast, emphasised violent monumental forms which were both eye-catching and provocative. Tegner was influenced strongly by the ideas of Frederich Nietzsche, especially as filtered through the writings of

Georg Brandes Georg Morris Cohen Brandes (4 February 1842 – 19 February 1927) was a Danish critic and scholar who greatly influenced Scandinavian and European literature from the 1870s through the turn of the 20th century. He is seen as the theorist behind ...

. He created a statuette entitled ''Lucifer with Brandes's Head'' (1902), a reference to Brandes' nickname "Lucifer". It has been described as showing the author as if he were "almost like his own worst enemy, or at least seems unafraid of aiming barbs at himself." Images of struggling figures influenced by Nietzschean ideas run throughout his work.

Bjørn Nørgaard Bjørn Nørgaard (born 21 May 1947 in Copenhagen) is a Danish artist who has been active in a variety of fields. He has significantly influenced the art scene in Denmark both through his "happenings" and his sculptures in Danish cities. Althou ...

: ''Rudolph Tegners Museum og Statuepark'', Rudolph Tegners Museum 1987 Brandes himself defended Tegner's most controversial work, a monument to the physician and Nobel Laureate

Niels Finsen Niels Ryberg Finsen (15 December 1860 – 24 September 1904) was a Faroese- Icelandic physician and scientist. In 1903, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology "in recognition of his contribution to the treatment of diseases, e ...

, which was installed in Copenhagen in 1909. It shows a standing naked man flanked by two kneeling naked women, reaching up to the sky. The sculpture was entitled ''Mod lyset'' (Towards the Light). It symbolised Finsen's principal scientific theory, that specific wavelengths of sunlight have healing properties.His Nobel prize was "in recognition of his contribution to the treatment of diseases, especially

lupus vulgaris Lupus vulgaris (also known as tuberculosis luposa) are painful cutaneous tuberculosis skin lesions with nodular appearance, most often on the face around the nose, eyelids, lips, cheeks, ears and neck. It is the most common ''Mycobacterium tuberc ...

, with concentrated light radiation, whereby he has opened a new avenue for medical science.
Medicine 1903
at nobelprize.org In 1911 Tegner married the painter Elna Jørgensen (1889–1976). In 1916, he acquired barren uncultivated land in

Zealand Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

in the vicinity of

Helsingør Helsingør ( , ; sv, Helsingör), classically known in English as Elsinore ( ), is a city in eastern Denmark. Helsingør Municipality had a population of 62,686 on 1 January 2018. Helsingør and Helsingborg in Sweden together form the northe ...

. He subsequently built a museum and sculpture park dedicated to his work in this bleak landscape. From 1917 on he installed a number of his sculptures there, mainly on classical themes. He also created a building in an uncompromising

minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post– World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Do ...

style to function as a museum for his work. Among the works on display are the sculpture ''Heracles and the Wild Boar'' (1919). Rudolph Tegner died on 5 June1950. He was buried in a mausoleum at the centre of the museum complex, which is open to the public.

References

External links

Film "Rudolph Tegner" website

''Rudolph Tegners Museum og Statuepark'' official website

English language Tegner website

Other sources

*Hans Jørgen Bonnichsen, Myten Rudolph (2003) ''Tegners skitser og malerier'' (Rudolph Tegners Museum) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tegner, Rudolph 1873 births 1950 deaths 20th-century Danish sculptors Male sculptors Art Nouveau sculptors Symbolist sculptors Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni Danish male artists 20th-century Danish male artists