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COLLECTING THE MODERN copy for review — please do not redistribute for information, please contact author: Rasmus Kjærboe, [email protected] RASMUS KJÆRBOE COLLECTING THE MODERN ORDRUPGAARD AND THE COLLECTION MUSEUMS OF MODERNIST ART PhD dissertation submitted to Aarhus University April 2016 Main supervisor: Jacob Wamberg Proofreading: Claire Neesham Contents Acknowledgments 9 Information for the reader 12 Introduction 15 1. A little history of Ordrupgaard 17 2. Research and theory background 26 3. Object of study and empirical material 31 4. Key concepts and initial departure 34 5. Research question and dissertation structure 41 PART ONE DISPLAYS Chapter I: A visit to Ordrupgaard, c. 1919 47 1. The first hall 51 2. The large hall 61 3. The library 74 4. Leaving Ordrupgaard 83 Chapter II: Why study Ordrupgaard? Aims and methods 89 1. Interpretation and the tensions of interpreting 93 2. Framing and the spectators 97 3. Interpretive communities; some hidden 103 4. Stagings at Ordrupgaard 106 5. Performative rituals in the museum 111 6. Why do people visit Ordrupgaard? A summary of exhibition rhetorics 117 Chapter III: Looking to Sweden 125 1. Klas Fåhraeus’ villa and gallery 133 2. The man who would be bourgeois 142 3. The bourgeois who would be superman 157 4. Collecting in Stockholm and Ordrup 168 Chapter IV: A collector’s horizon 175 1. Danish collectors in the Ordrup looking glass 181 2. The international horizon of a collector 193 3. The idea of donation, duty and the domestic gallery 200 4. Spiritual donation 207 Chapter V: Collecting, display, ideology 217 1. Outliers: Reinhart, Barnes and aesthetic formalism 222 2. Formalism, ‘new criticism’ and collectors 231 3. Performing the museum map 238 4. Transformation through art: The Phillips gallery 245 5. Transformation through art: The Barnes Foundation 250 6. Transformation through art: Museum Folkwang as Gesamtkunstwerk 255 7. The modernist collection as museum 264 8. Coda: The Hansens’ gallery in comparison 273 PART TWO NETWORKS Chapter VI: Collecting as network 285 1. Networks and a fiction of disinterested experts 291 2. Who were the advisors? Double agents, experts and networks 296 3. A Swiss misunderstanding 302 4. Networks make collectors 308 5. Ordrupgaard and other collections as networks 311 6. Collections, exhibitions and networks 319 7. A Danish network of international, modernist exhibitions 326 Chapter VII: Les Grandes Ventes 337 1. Consortiums 344 2. Acquisitions on a grand scale 347 3. Les Ventes Degas: guns and other concerns 354 4. The Danish consortium in the marketplace 361 5. Freighting and framing commodities 367 6. Collectors and economic framing 372 7. Dismembering a Danish collection 377 8. Coda: On collecting and networks 387 EPILOGUE & CONCLUSION Chapter VIII: Futures 397 1. Failures and futures 401 2. Sleeping beauty – the collection after its founder 408 3. Authentic experience: From Ordrupgaard aesthetics to Louisiana Idiom 414 4. From static collection to changing museum 422 5. Coda: The collection museum of modernist art in the twenty-first century 429 Conclusion 441 Bibliography 452 Image credits 482 Dansk resumé 484 Abstract 490 Acknowledgments As is usual, the present text is identified with one author only; yet, in a way, it weaves a network of many different voices. My authorship does not solely belong to me. In the case of scholarly and sometimes not so scholarly inputs, we have a system of formalized acknowledgments in the shape of source ref- erences. This, I duly employ. But in the case of insights and assistance, even sometimes opposition, I have numerous debts big and small, left and right, that I hope to express in this short section. I owe the successful completion of this project to you all, whereas any faults or discrepancies lie wholly with myself. First of all, a heartfelt thank you to the New Carlsberg Foundation whose generous economic support made this project possible. Thanks must also go to Ordrupgaard for getting things moving in the first place and for finding additional, necessary means. I am grateful to Aarhus University for agreeing to take on the project and to the C.L. David Foundation and Collection and Salling Foundations for giving me the opportunity to travel extensively in connection to my research. A tremendous debt of gratitude I owe to my main supervisor, professor of art history Jacob Wamberg. Thanks to you and to the dedicated colleagues at the Department for Communication and Culture, the project was launched and completed with lots of vital input and advice. A warm thank you to Anne Birgitte Fonsmark, the director of Ordrupgaard, for believing in the project and to all my present and former colleagues at one of Denmark’s most beau- tiful museums for support and kindness. Similarly, I sincerely thank Professor Bruce Altshuler and New York University for sheltering and supporting my research during my extended stay in the USA. My gratitude applies equally to Chris Whitehead of Newcastle University for hospitality and generous feedback. I have received patient help and guidance at many museums and institutions throughout the time spent on researching collectors and their museums. I personally want to thank Bas Mühren of the Kröller-Müller Museum, Anna Meister of Waldemarsudde, Patrik Steorn of Thielska Galleriet, Mariantonia Reinhard-Felice of Sammlung Oskar Reinhart “Am Römerholz”, Birgitte von Folsach of Nivaagaard, Marianne Saabye of the Hirschsprung Collection, Kjeld von Folsach of the C.L. David Foundation and Collection and the staff of the Phillips Collection, Lousiana Museum of Modern Art and Statens Museum for Kunst. Perhaps too seldom we reflect on the institutions that allow us to pursue our research, but here I want to acknowledge the importance of compe- tent institutions such as the Danish National Art Library, The Frick Library, New York Public Library, The State and University Library of Denmark and Lund University Library; their collections and staff have helped my progress immeasurably. For allowing me to draw upon their previous work at Ordrupgaard, I owe a great deal to Ernst Jonas Bencard and Emilie Boe Bierlich. Thank you for sharing your efforts in a true spirit of humanist openness. Finally, I thank my family, my mother and my father for their support. And Tina – for your love, kindness, patience – I am grateful. It means the world. Information for the reader NA: Nationalmuseum Archives, Stockholm NCFA: New Carlsberg Foundation Archives, Copenhagen NCGA: New Carlsberg Glyptotek Archives, Copenhagen Letter writers and correspondents OA: Ordrupgaard Archives, Charlottenlund AB: Adrien Bovy, director of the Musée d’Art et d’Historie (1913–1921), professor at the Ecole des SMKA: Statens Museum for Kunst (the National Gallery of Denmark) Archives, Copenhagen Beaux-Arts (1911–1919), Genève SORA: Sammlung Oskar Reinhart ”Am Römerholz” Archives, Winterthur AG: Alfred Gold, art critic and art dealer SSA: Stockholm Stadsarkiv (Stockholm municipal archives) APW: A.P. Weis, board member of New Carlsberg Glyptotek and the New Carlsberg Foundation WA: Waldermarsudde Archives, Stockholm (1902–1935) Newspapers, gallery and exhibition publications CGL: Carl G. Laurin, Swedish art historian Authors identified only by initials or pseudonyms are referenced thus and appear in the list of refe- CS: Charles Simon, director of the Compagnie Suisse de Réassurances, Zürich rences by first letter. Anonymous pieces are referenced by the name of the newspaper/gallery/ CSd: Unidentified deputy to Charles Simon, signature illegible institution FP: Frederik Poulsen, assistant and keeper (1910-26), then director (1926-1943) of the New Carls- berg Glyptotek, member of the New Carlsberg Foundation board (1915-1926) Translations HH: Henny Hansen, wife of Wilhelm Hansen All translations from Danish, Swedish, German and French are those of the author, unless a publis- HJ: Helge Jacobsen, director of the New Carlsberg Glyptotek (1915–1926), director of the New hed English version exists Carlsberg Foundation (1914–1946) JR: Johan Rohde, artist and designer Visual sources, photos and copyright KM: Karl Madsen, director of the Danish National Gallery (1911–1925) (Da: ’Statens Museum for All copyrights have been cleared for research purposes Kunst’) LZ: Lauritz Zeuthen, member of the New Carlsberg Foundation board (1915–1923) Ordrupgaard’s collections MG: Max Gafner, employee at the Schweizerisches Volkwirtschafts-Departement The original French art collection at Ordrupgaard as it was around 1922 is reconstructed in Asmus- OR: Oskar Reinhart, art collector sen (1993). The present museum collection has, for the French part, a catalogue raisonné in Fons- PE: Prince Eugen, artist and art collector mark (2011a). Both the Danish and French collections are searchable with Kunstindeks Danmark at RB: Richard Bergh, director of the Swedish National Gallery (1915–1919) (Sw: ’Nationalmuseum’) https://www.kulturarv.dk/kid/ RH: Ragnar Hoppe, curator at the Swedish National Gallery (1922–1950) TD: Theodore Duret, critic, collector and promoter of impressionism TM: Tyge Møller, art dealer WH: Wilhelm Hansen, husband to Henny Hansen, insurance director, the driving force in the family’s art collecting Archival material ACG: Archives de la cité de la Genève, Genève HSA: Hirschsprung Collection Archives, Copenhagen KB: Det kongelige Bibliotek (the Royal Library), Copenhagen LA: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art Archives, Humlebæk Introduction This dissertation revolves around Ordrupgaard in Copenhagen, an important collection and museum