The Nationalmuseum's First Exhibition, on the Scandinavian Art
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The Nationalmuseum’s First Exhibition: On the Scandinavian Art Exposition in 1866 Eva-Lena Bergström MA, PhD student in Museology, Umeå University Director of Archives and Library Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm Volume 22 Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, © Stockholms Auktionsverk, Stockholm Graphic Design is published with generous support from (Fig. 5, p. 35) BIGG the Friends of the Nationalmuseum. © Royal Library of Belgium, Brussels (Fig. 2, p. 38) Layout Nationalmuseum collaborates with © Teylers Museum, Haarlem (Fig. 3, p. 39) Agneta Bervokk Svenska Dagbladet and Grand Hôtel Stockholm. © Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Shelfmark: We would also like to thank FCB Fältman & Riserva.S.81(int.2) (Fig. 2, p. 42) Translation and Language Editing Malmén. © Galerie Tarantino, Paris (Figs. 3–4, p. 43) Gabriella Berggren, Erika Milburn and © Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain Martin Naylor Cover Illustration (Figs. 3–4, pp. 46–47) Anne Vallayer (1744–1818), Portrait of a Violinist, © National Library of Sweden, Stockholm Publishing 1773. Oil on canvas, 116 x 96 cm. Purchase: (Figs. 5–6, pp. 48–49) Janna Herder (Editor) and Ingrid Lindell The Wiros Fund. Nationalmuseum, NM 7297. © Uppsala Auktionskammare, Uppsala (Publications Manager) (Fig. 1, p. 51) Publisher © Landsarkivet, Gothenburg/Johan Pihlgren Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum is published Berndt Arell, Director General (Fig. 3, p. 55) annually and contains articles on the history and © Västergötlands museum, Skara (Fig. 4, p. 55) theory of art relating to the collections of the Editor © Svensk Form Design Archive/Centre for Nationalmuseum. Janna Herder Business History (Fig. 2, p. 58) © Svenskt Tenn Archive and Collection, Nationalmuseum Editorial Committee Stockholm (Fig. 4, p. 60) Box 16176 Janna Herder, Linda Hinners, Merit Laine, © Denise Grünstein (Fig. 5, p. 152) SE–103 24 Stockholm, Sweden Lena Munther, Magnus Olausson, Martin Olin, © The National Gallery, London (Figs. 1–3, 6–7, www.nationalmuseum.se Maria Perers and Lidia Westerberg Olofsson 17, pp. 167–169, 172–173, 179) © Nationalmuseum, the authors and the owners © The National Museum of Art, Architecture and of the reproduced works Photographs Design, Oslo/Jarre Anne Hansteen, CC-BY-NC Nationalmuseum Photographic Studio/ (Fig. 8, p. 174) ISSN 2001-9238 Linn Ahlgren, Bodil Beckman, Erik Cornelius, © Nicholas Penny (Figs. 9–10, 12–14, 16, Anna Danielsson, Cecilia Heisser, Per-Åke Persson pp. 175, 177, 179) and Hans Thorwid © Museum Gustavianum, Uppsala (Fig. 11, p. 176) Picture Editor © Getty Museum CC-BY. Digital image courtesy of Rikard Nordström the Gettys Open Content Program (Fig. 15, p. 178) Photo Credits © The Swedish Royal Court/Håkan Lind © Samlungen der Hamburger Kunsthalle, (Fig. 9, p. 188) Hamburg (Fig. 5, p. 15) © Eva-Lena Bergström (Figs. 1, 3–4, 6–7, 9, © Museum Bredius The Hague (Fig. 6, p. 16) pp. 191–192, 194–196, 198) © The National Museum of Art, Architecture and © Statens Museum for Kunst/National Gallery of Design, Oslo/Jacques Lathion (Fig. 2, p. 23) Denmark, Copenhagen, CC-PD (Fig. 2, p. 193) © Kalmar läns museum, Kalmar/Rolf Lind © The Nordic Museum, Stockholm/Karolina (Fig. 3, p. 27) Kristensson (Fig. 5, p. 195) Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volume 22, 2015 history and theory of art/the nationalmuseum’s first exhibition The Nationalmuseum’s First Exhibition: On the Scandinavian Art Exposition in 1866 Eva-Lena Bergström MA, PhD student in Museology, Umeå University Director of Archives and Library “Interior from the exposition palace in Stockholm”, in Ny Illustrerad Tidning, 14 July 1866. 191 Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volume 22, 2015 history and theory of art/the nationalmuseum’s first exhibition Fig. 1 “Aktualiteter af Stift & Comp”, satirical drawings in Ny Illustrerad Tidning, 2 June 1866, prior to the opening of the Art Exposition. “God save the Nordic region, its art The Nationalmuseum was not yet an independent government and its artists!”1 agency but subordinated to the Board of Public Works and Buil- 2016 marks the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of the dings and closely affiliated to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Nationalmuseum’s building on Blasieholmen. The construction Both the curator and director, Johan Christoffer Boklund, and process had been a long, convoluted and widely criticised affair. the senior curator Fritz von Dardel thus had dual assignments. The reputation of the new Nationalmuseum was therefore tar- Boklund was a professor at the Academy, and von Dardel’s im- nished. In the summer of 1866, the historic collection was instal- pressive CV included several prestigious positions in the contem- led on the ground floor, but the upper-storey galleries, intended porary art scene. A standing comparable to simultaneosly being for the national collection of art, were still empty. Only part of the head of the National Property Board and chairman of the the Museum was open to the public. Royal Academy of Fine Arts. He was a close friend of the king Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volume 22, 2015 192 history and theory of art/the nationalmuseum’s first exhibition Fig. 2 Julius Exner, Scene from a Farmer’s Feast in Amager, 1854. Oil on canvas, 84 x 110.5 cm, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, KMS713. and belonged to his circle of practising artists. Von Dardel’s ca- of establishing the institution as a palace of fine arts, a stronghold ricatures are not merely amusing but also provide a sharp resu- of nationalism and the Swedish people’s museum. The exhibi- mé of the cultural elite at the time. It was Fritz von Dardel who tion opened on 15 June 1866. launched the pragmatic proposal to fill the empty top floor of the Nationalmuseum, in connection with the Scandinavian Exhibi- The Age of World Fairs tion of Industry and Art in Stockholm, with contemporary art from The second half of the 19th century was the age of world fairs. Sweden’s neighbouring countries.2 The Royal Academy of Fine The objects displayed at these events manifested the industrial Arts was, in other words, formally responsible for the National- and artistic progress of their nations; they offered the latest pro- museum’s first exhibition. ducts from the crafts industry and highlighted contemporary art. The Scandinavian Art Exposition was aimed at adding splen- Unlike the regulating and didactic ambitions of the museums, dour to the opening of the Nationalmuseum, with the intention these fairs were considerably freer arenas that demanded neither 193 Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volume 22, 2015 history and theory of art/the nationalmuseum’s first exhibition Fig. 4 “From the Art Exposition: ‘A bridal procession on the Hardanger fiord’. Painting by J. Eckersberg, woodcut by the artist himself”, in 22 1866 Fig. 3 “From the Art Exposition: ‘Godmother Comes Visiting’, genre Ny Illustrerad Tidning, September . painting by J. F. Höckert. Drawn and cut by E. Skill”, in Ny Illustrerad Tidning, 21 July 1866. a sense of aesthetics or a knowledge of history. They attracted a the sale of poster-sized photographs. Johannes Jaeger’s photo- broad public from all social classes, and were thus included, to- graphic studio depicted a selection of the objects in the exhibi- gether with the museums, in the discourse on the mission of art tion and offered posters for SEK 3 each.6 and crafts to foster good taste. The first major world fair, The Great The media thus covered many different facets of the event. Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, at the Crystal Palace In Ny Illustrerad Tidning, Lorentz Dietrichson,7 an art historian, in London in 1851, was, according to art historian Anna Lena writer and, for a brief period, an amanuensis at the Nationalmuse- Lindberg, a broad, popular event to nurture a sense of taste, a um, summarised his impressions of the exhibition in ten articles. milestone in the development of art pedagogy (Fig. 2).3 Skilled printers were also employed by the publication, and qu- The art exhibition on display in the Nationalmuseum helped ality reproductions of selected works introduced the readership support the Scandinavian manifestation and the organisers were continuously to Nordic contemporary art. In the exhibition, visi- obviously hoping that visitors would also venture into other parts tors encountered several of the Nordic artists who had studied in of the museum building. The plans and preparations included Dusseldorf, Munich and Paris. On the art scene in the German a multitude of practical decisions on borrowing art, shipping, cities, genre painting was fashionable. The Nordic art, and conse- admission fees and sales of both art and photographic reproduc- quently the Museum’s exhibition followed this tradition and lea- tions (Fig. 1). A request to borrow works was drafted and sent via ned predominantly towards small-format vernacular painting and Crown Prince Oscar to the Norwegian government, the Royal landscapes (Figs. 2–4). Academy of Art in Denmark, and the Art Association in Finland. Dietrichson’s articles reflect the impact of nationalism on Moreover, the government promised free transportation from contemporary art preferences. He began with an overview of Norway and Denmark by Swedish Rail, as noted in an unsigned genre painting, giving special attention to the national traits, and article in Post- och Inrikes Tidningar, in July the same year.4 To highlighting the artists Julius Exner (1825–1910) from Denmark, make ends meet, an admission fee was charged, and the daily Adolph Tidemand (1814–1876) from Norway, and Johan Fred- newspaper Dagens Nyheter noted that visitor numbers were hig- rik Höckert (1826–1866) from Sweden. The painting Sermon in her on days with reduced fees. Several of the works of art were Löfmock Mountain Chapel in Lapland by Höckert had been shown for sale, a fact that received a great deal of press coverage. It was at the Paris Salon in 1855 and was acquired by the museum in reported what had been bought, by whom, and at what cost.5 But Lille in 1856.