Tag: Leslie Hossack

Hammershøi: The David Collection, Part 1

1903, Room with a View of the External Gallery. Strandgade 30 by Leslie HossackRoom with a View of the External Gallery. Strandgade 30 (1903)
Collection: Davids Samling, Copenhagen

1905, Open Doors. Strandgade 30 by Leslie HossackOpen Doors. Strandgade 30 (1905)
Collection: Davids Samling, Copenhagen

1906, Sitting Room. Study in Sunlight. Strandgade 30 by leslie HossackSitting Room. Study in Sunlight. Strandgade 30 (1906)
Collection: Davids Samling, Copenhagen

all photographs © 2019 Leslie Hossack

After months of researching Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi, Leslie Hossack travelled to Copenhagen to view his paintings as they were meant to be seen – framed on a wall.

Hossack photographed works by Hammershøi in three galleries in Copenhagen, as well as Paris, Ottawa and Toronto. It is important to note that the 100 images she created are not colour corrected; rather, they reflect the actual viewing conditions encountered in each gallery. For example, the Hammershøi paintings in the David Collection are in a room with coral coloured walls. Thus the photographs above have a red cast to them.

Hammershøi’s works, particularly his interiors, are known for their lack of colour. But in reality, his muted grays reward the gallery-goer with a tantalizing range of luminous colours, as can be seen in the images above.

“The artist developed into a value painter, in whose work each gray tone contains an undercoat of red, brown, green, blue, for example, but whose overall expression is gray.”
Henrik Wivel, Hammershøi in the David Collection (2017)

Above we see the interior of the apartment at Strandgade 30 where Vilhelm and his wife Ida lived from 1898 to 1909. Characteristically, the sparse rooms are staged and devoid of people.

Hammershøi’s oeuvre consists of portraits, nudes, landscapes, architecture and interiors, but it is his interiors, like the three shown above, that were the most popular in his lifetime (1864-1916) and continue to draw the strongest response today. Hammershøi painted over 100 interiors in the various apartments he shared with his wife Ida in Copenhagen. Their home was both his studio and a major motif in his work.

Over a century ago, Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi elevated
“Stay At Home. Work At Home.” to an art form.

Leslie Hossack’s Hammershøi Photographs are part of a larger body of work that explores Hitler’s Berlin, Stalin’s Moscow, Mussolini’s Rome, Churchill’s London, contested sites in Jerusalem, the NATO Headquarter Camp in Kosovo, buildings linked to the Japanese Canadian internment during WWII, the D-Day landing beaches of Normandy, the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands, Scotland’s Freemasons and Sigmund Freud’s Vienna.

To view more photographs by Leslie Hossack, please visit lesliehossack.com

Hammershøi: The David Collection, Part 2

1892, Kongevejen at Gentofte by Leslie HossackKongevejen at Gentofte (1892)
Collection: Davids Samling, Copenhagen

1900, From a Farm. Refnoes by Leslie HossackFrom a Farm. Refnœs (1900)
Collection: Davids Samling, Copenhagen

1904, Young Beech Forest, Frederiksvoerk by Leslie HossackYoung Beech Forest, Frederiksvoerk (1904)
Collection: Davids Samling, Copenhagen

1905, Three Ships, Christianshavn Canal by Leslie HossackThree Ships, Christianshavn Canal (1905)
Collection: Davids Samling, Copenhagen

1906, The Rowan Avenue at Snekkersten by Leslie HossackThe Rowan Avenue at Snekkersten (1906)
Collection: Davids Samling, Copenhagen

all photographs © 2019 Leslie Hossack

Vilhelm Hammershøi usually painted indoors, but during the summer months he did paint landscapes outdoors, in various locations around Denmark. The landscapes in his oeuvre are fewer, and certainly less well known, than his celebrated interiors.

Naturally, the outdoor summer light had a different quality than the winter light that streamed through the windows of Hammershøi’s Copenhagen apartment. But upon contemplation, one can see a similarity between his interiors and landscapes.

“… essentially, their mood is identical to the mood in the artist’s other output. There is a feeling of alienation and desertion in Hammershøi’s landscapes. They are not devoid of the hallmarks of agrarian culture, such as farms, mills, and fields; they are devoid of biological activity and life.”
Henrik Wivel, Hammershøi in the David Collection (2017)

Hammershøi’s oeuvre consists of portraits, nudes, architecture, interiors and landscapes like the five shown above. But it was his interiors that were the most popular in his lifetime (1864-1916) and continue to draw the strongest response today. Hammershøi painted over 100 interiors in the various apartments he shared with his wife Ida in Copenhagen. Their home was both his studio and a major motif in his work.

Over a century ago, Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi elevated
“Stay At Home. Work At Home.” to an art form.

Leslie Hossack’s Hammershøi Photographs are part of a larger body of work that explores Hitler’s Berlin, Stalin’s Moscow, Mussolini’s Rome, Churchill’s London, contested sites in Jerusalem, the NATO Headquarter Camp in Kosovo, buildings linked to the Japanese Canadian internment during WWII, the D-Day landing beaches of Normandy, the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands, Scotland’s Freemasons and Sigmund Freud’s Vienna.

To view more photographs by Leslie Hossack, please visit lesliehossack.com

Hammershøi: The David Collection, Part 3

1889, Woman Knitting. The Artist's Mother by Leslie HossackWoman Knitting. The Artist’s Mother (1889)
Collection: Davids Samling, Copenhagen

1889-1900, Woman Seated on a White Chair by Leslie HossackWoman Seated on a White Chair, on reverse of above canvas (1899-1900)
Collection: Davids Samling, Copenhagen

1891, Evening in the Drawing Room. Two Women at a Round Table by Leslie HossackEvening in the Drawing Room. Two Women at a Round Table (1891)
Collection: Davids Samling, Copenhagen

1896, Portrait The Artist's Sister Anna (drawn replica) by Leslie HossackPortrait of a Young Girl. The Artist’s Sister Anna, drawn replica (1896)
Collection: Davids Samling, Copenhagen

1892, Double Portrait of the Artist and His Wife, Paris by Leslie HossackDouble Portrait of the Artist and His Wife. Paris (1892)
Collection: Davids Samling, Copenhagen

all photographs © 2019 Leslie Hossack

Vilhelm Hammershøi is best known for his haunting interiors, but his portraits and self-portraits are equally tantalizing. Double Portrait of the Artist and His Wife. Paris (1892), shown immediately above, is an excellent example of both. Not even the best reproduction of this painting can fully prepare the viewer for the visceral experience of actually standing in front of this engaging yet aloof young couple. Their direct gaze is softly unfocused and their enigmatic expressions are benign and beguiling at the same time.

“One feature is found in Vilhelm Hammershøi’s self-portrait as well as virtually all his other portraits: the figures eyes are not turned directly at the observer. They look inward… His portraits are mental images.”
Henrik Wivel, Hammershøi in the David Collection (2017)

Hammershøi painted portraits of family members and friends; he made it clear that he did not wish to paint the portraits of people whom he did not know. His main subjects were his wife Ida, his mother Frederikke, his sister Anna, his brother Svend and his friends and colleagues. The portrait below is of the wife of one of Hammershøi’s acquaintances. As with all images in this series by Leslie Hossack, it was photographed as it appeared on view in the gallery, colour cast, reflections on the glass and all.

1896, Portrait of Thora Bendix by Leslie HossackPortrait of Thora Bendix (1896)
Collection: Davids Samling, Copenhagen

Hammershøi’s oeuvre consists of interiors, landscapes, architecture, nudes and portraits like the six shown above. But it was his interiors that were the most popular in his lifetime (1864-1916) and continue to draw the strongest response today. Hammershøi painted over 100 interiors in the various apartments he shared with his wife Ida in Copenhagen. Their home was both his studio and a major motif in his work.

Over a century ago, Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi elevated
“Stay At Home. Work At Home.” to an art form.

Leslie Hossack’s Hammershøi Photographs are part of a larger body of work that explores Hitler’s Berlin, Stalin’s Moscow, Mussolini’s Rome, Churchill’s London, contested sites in Jerusalem, the NATO Headquarter Camp in Kosovo, buildings linked to the Japanese Canadian internment during WWII, the D-Day landing beaches of Normandy, the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands, Scotland’s Freemasons and Sigmund Freud’s Vienna.

To view more photographs by Leslie Hossack, please visit lesliehossack.com

Hammershøi: The Hirschsprung Collection, Part 1

1885, Portrait of a Young Woman, the Artist's Sister Anna by Leslie HossackPortrait of a Young Woman, the Artist’s Sister Anna (1885)
Collection: Den Hirschsprungske Samling, Copenhagen

1885, An Old Woman Standing by a Window by Leslie HossackAn Old Woman Standing by a Window (1885)
Collection: Den Hirschsprungske Samling, Copenhagen

1886, An Old Woman Sitting by Leslie HossackAn Old Woman Sitting (1886)
Collection: Den Hirschsprungske Samling, Copenhagen

1889, Maleren Kristian Zahrmann, The Painter Kristian Zahrmann by Leslie HossackMaleren Kristian Zahrmann, The Painter Kristian Zahrmann (1889)
Collection: Den Hirschsprungske Samling, Copenhagen

1901, Daniel Jacobson Salter by Leslie HossackDaniel Jacobson Salter (1901)
Collection: Den Hirschsprungske Samling, Copenhagen

all photographs © 2019 Leslie Hossack

Leslie Hossack has photographed 100 works by Vilhelm Hammershøi in Copenhagen, Paris, Toronto and Ottawa. The five portraits seen above hang in the Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen.

Hammershøi is best known for his muted domestic interiors; he is the master painter of the poetry of the ordinary. Gallery-goers who are willing to slow down and spend as much time with his portraits as they do with his interiors will discover they are equally complex and rewarding.

“Hammershøi is not one of those whom it is necessary to speak [of] quickly. His work is long and slow and at whatever moment one grasps it, it will always give ample opportunity to speak about what is important and essential in art.”
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letter to Alfred Bramsen, 10 November 1905

After studying Hammershøi over an extended period of time, Hossack wrote: “I saw my work when I looked at his work. His paintings and my photographs spoke the same visual language. In his interiors, I saw my images; in his portraits, I saw myself.”

Hammershøi painted portraits of family members and friends; he did not wish to paint portraits of people whom he did not know. His main subjects were his wife Ida, his mother Frederikke, his brother Svend and his sister Anna. Anna’s portrait is seen at the top of this post. In addition, Hammershøi painted his colleagues, including Kristian Zahrmann and Daniel Salter whose images appear above.

Hammershøi’s oeuvre consists of interiors, landscapes, architecture, nudes and portraits like the five shown above. But it was his interiors that were the most popular in his lifetime (1864-1916) and continue to draw the strongest response today. Hammershøi painted over 100 interiors in the various apartments he shared with his wife Ida in Copenhagen. Their home was both his studio and a major motif in his work.

Over a century ago, Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi elevated
“Stay At Home. Work At Home.” to an art form.

Leslie Hossack’s Hammershøi Photographs are part of a larger body of work that explores Hitler’s Berlin, Stalin’s Moscow, Mussolini’s Rome, Churchill’s London, contested sites in Jerusalem, the NATO Headquarter Camp in Kosovo, buildings linked to the Japanese Canadian internment during WWII, the D-Day landing beaches of Normandy, the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands, Scotland’s Freemasons and Sigmund Freud’s Vienna.

To view more photographs by Leslie Hossack, please visit lesliehossack.com

Hammershøi: The Hirschsprung Collection, Part 2

1895-1896, Sondermarken ved vintertid by Leslie HossackSondermarken ved vintertid (1895-1896)
Collection: Den Hirschsprungske Samling, Copenhagen

1885, Landscape Gundsomagle ved Roskilde by Leslie HossackLandscape Gundsomagle ved Roskilde (1885)
Collection: Den Hirschsprungske Samling, Copenhagen

1897, Interior in Louis XVI Style, Ny Bakkehus, Rahbeks Allé by Leslie HossackInterior in Louis XVI Style, from the artist’s home, Ny Bakkehus, Rahbeks Allé (1897)
Collection: Den Hirschsprungske Samling, Copenhagen

all photographs © 2019 Leslie Hossack

The first two works shown above are quite typical of Vilhelm Hammershøi’s landscapes with trees. There, as expected, we see mystery, movement and mood in his muted, meditative compositions.

And then the interior – and what an interior! The painting entitled Interior in Louis XVI Style, from the artist’s home, Ny Bakkehus, Rahbeks Allé (1897) is anything but muted.

After their extended honeymoon in Holland, Belgium and Paris, Vilhelm and his wife Ida moved into an apartment on Rahbeks Allé in the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen in 1892. In this painting of their first home, we see signs of Hammershøi’s growing fascination with lines and light, as evidenced in this composition where he portrays staged rooms devoid of people. But the bubble gum pink of the walls is a shock to viewers familiar with his later interiors.

In 1907, ten years after painting Interior in Louis XVI Style (1897), Hammershøi gave one of his rare interviews. By then, he and Ida had been living at Strandgade 30 for almost ten years and his signature “gray” palette had become well established.

“I believe absolutely that a picture makes the best effect in purely colouristic sense the fewer colours are in it. What prompts me to choose a motif is just as much the lines in it, what I would call the architectural stance in the picture. And then naturally also the light.”
Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interview with the magazine Hver 8. Dag, 1907

Hammershøi’s oeuvre consists of interiors, landscapes, architecture, nudes and portraits. However, it was his interiors that were the most popular in his lifetime (1864-1916) and continue to draw the strongest response today. Hammershøi painted over 100 interiors in the various apartments he shared with his wife Ida in Copenhagen. Their home was both his studio and a major motif in his work.

Over a century ago, Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi elevated
“Stay At Home. Work At Home.” to an art form.

Leslie Hossack’s Hammershøi Photographs are part of a larger body of work that explores Hitler’s Berlin, Stalin’s Moscow, Mussolini’s Rome, Churchill’s London, contested sites in Jerusalem, the NATO Headquarter Camp in Kosovo, buildings linked to the Japanese Canadian internment during WWII, the D-Day landing beaches of Normandy, the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands, Scotland’s Freemasons and Sigmund Freud’s Vienna.

To view more photographs by Leslie Hossack, please visit lesliehossack.com

Hammershøi: The National Gallery of Denmark, Part 1

62 1888, Interior. An Old Stove; The Old Jam Stove by Leslie HossackInterior. An Old Stove (1888)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK), Copenhagen

74 1901, Interior in Strandgade, Sunlight on the Floor; A Room in the Artist's Home in Strandgade, Copenhagen, with the Artist's Wife by Leslie HossackInterior in Strandgade, Sunlight on the Floor (1901)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK), Copenhagen

78 1902 A Room in the Artist's Home in Strandgade, Copenhagen, with the Artist's Wife (With A Woman Reading) by Leslie HossackA Room in the Artist’s Home in Strandgade, Copenhagen, with the Artist’s Wife (1902)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK), Copenhagen

87 1909, Interior Artificial Light. Interiør. Kunstigt lys by Leslie HossackInterior Artificial Light (1909)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK), Copenhagen

90 1910, Interior with the Artist's Easel by Leslie HossackInterior with the Artist’s Easel (1910)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK), Copenhagen

all photographs © 2019 Leslie Hossack

The National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen (Statens Museum for Kunst or SMK) holds a number of works by Vilhelm Hammershøi, which form a focal point in their collection. In the summer of 2019, the SMK hosted an exhibition titled There I Belong. Hammershøi by Elmgreen & Dragset.

Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, two contemporary artists, were invited by the SMK to create an exhibition using Hammershøi as the jumping off point. The exhibition featured nine original paintings by Hammershøi including the five shown above, which were selected from the permanent collection of the SMK.

“For the SMK Plus project, they [Elmgreen and Dragset] were particularly interested in some of Hammershoi’s recurring and most iconic motifs, specifically interiors featuring rooms behind rooms, doors propped more or less open, but also his recurring images of burning candles.”
Mikkel Bogh and Marianne Torp, There I Belong (2019)

One of the unexpected delights of this exhibition was the opportunity to view three works by Hammershøi unframed: the first piece above and the last two. It was fascinating to see how he had tacked the canvas around the support over 100 years ago.

Hammershøi’s oeuvre consists of interiors, landscapes, architecture, nudes and portraits. However, it was his interiors that were the most popular in his lifetime (1864-1916) and continue to draw the strongest response today. Hammershøi painted over 100 interiors in the various apartments he shared with his wife Ida in Copenhagen. Their home was both his studio and a major motif in his work.

Over a century ago, Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi elevated
“Stay At Home. Work At Home.” to an art form.

Leslie Hossack’s Hammershøi Photographs are part of a larger body of work that explores Hitler’s Berlin, Stalin’s Moscow, Mussolini’s Rome, Churchill’s London, contested sites in Jerusalem, the NATO Headquarter Camp in Kosovo, buildings linked to the Japanese Canadian internment during WWII, the D-Day landing beaches of Normandy, the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands, Scotland’s Freemasons and Sigmund Freud’s Vienna.

To view more photographs by Leslie Hossack, please visit lesliehossack.com

Hammershøi: The National Gallery of Denmark, Part 2

66 1890, Bedroom by Leslie HossackBedroom (1890)
Collection: Den Hirschsprungske Samling, Copenhagen

73 1899 Interior with a Young Woman Sweeping by Leslie HossackInterior with a Young Woman Sweeping (1899)
Collection: Den Hirschsprungske Samling, Copenhagen

84 1906-1908 Interior No. 30 Strandgade by Leslie HossackInterior No. 30 Strandgade (1906-1908)
Collection: ARoS – Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus

92 1911, Interior from Bredgade with the Artist's Wife by Leslie HossackInterior from Bredgade with the Artist’s Wife (1911)
Collection: ARoS – Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus

all photographs © 2019 Leslie Hossack

The four paintings by Vilhelm Hammershøi shown above were loaned to The National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen (Statens Museum for Kunst or SMK) for their 2019 exhibition titled There I Belong. Hammershøi by Elmgreen & Dragset.

Hammershøi painted his first interior scene in 1888. The interiors shown here were created over a period of more than 20 years, from 1890 to 1911. In 1890, Vilhelm became engaged to Ida Ilsted and she became his main muse and model for the rest of his life. 

“In his paintings, Hammershøi actively omits some of the furniture… This is to say that all his interiors are deliberately staged and arranged. In some of the paintings he includes Ida Hammershøi, almost always with her backed turned to the viewer or without making eye contact, her head bent over a book or crafts.”
Exhibition Catalogue, There I Belong (2019)

Leslie Hossack photographed a total of 100 works by Hammershøi in Canada and Europe. Of these, 46 were interiors: 30 with a figure and 16 without. Reflecting on these 46 interiors, Hossack wrote: “Viewing his interiors is an intimate experience, whether his wife Ida is present or not. Hammershøi projected his inner world onto his canvases and there I met him.”

Hammershøi’s oeuvre consists of interiors, landscapes, architecture, nudes and portraits. However, it was his interiors that were the most popular in his lifetime (1864-1916) and continue to draw the strongest response today. Hammershøi painted over 100 interiors in the various apartments he shared with his wife Ida in Copenhagen. Their home was both his studio and a major motif in his work.

Over a century ago, Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi elevated
“Stay At Home. Work At Home.” to an art form.

Leslie Hossack’s Hammershøi Photographs are part of a larger body of work that explores Hitler’s Berlin, Stalin’s Moscow, Mussolini’s Rome, Churchill’s London, contested sites in Jerusalem, the NATO Headquarter Camp in Kosovo, buildings linked to the Japanese Canadian internment during WWII, the D-Day landing beaches of Normandy, the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands, Scotland’s Freemasons and Sigmund Freud’s Vienna.

To view more photographs by Leslie Hossack, please visit lesliehossack.com

Hammershøi: The National Gallery of Denmark, Part 3

65 1889-1900, The Painter Kristian Zahrtmann by Leslie HossackThe Painter Kristian Zahrtmann (1889-1890)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

67 1890 The Art Historian Karl Madsen, Later Director of Statens Museum for Kunst by Leslie HossackThe Art Historian Karl Madsen, Later Director of Statens Museum for Kunst (1890)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

75 1901, The Artist Jens Ferdinand Willumsen. Study for Five Portraits by Leslie HossackThe Artist Jens Ferdinand Willumsen (1901)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

77 1901, Portrait of Svend Hammershoi, the Artist's Brother by Leslie HossackPortrait of Svend Hammershoi, the Artist’s Brother (1901)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

85 1907, Ida Hammershoi the Artist's Wife with a Teacup by Leslie HossackIda Hammershoi the Artist’s Wife with a Teacup (1907)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

all photographs © 2019 Leslie Hossack

These five portraits by Vilhelm Hammershøi were photographed by Leslie Hossack in The National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen (Statens Museum for Kunst or SMK). They are among several Hammershøi pieces forming part of the SMK exhibition entitled Sun and Soul. As is typical with his portraits, these individuals are colleagues, friends and family members.

Vilhelm’s wife Ida was his most frequent model. In this 1907 portrayal of Ida, she appears exhausted, and certainly much older than in the portrait painted in 1890, the year of their engagement. She also seems a great deal more vulnerable than the four men.

Much has been written about the influence of photography on Hammershøi. It is known that he collected many photographs and there is conjecture that he may have worked from some photos when creating certain compositions. It is clear from Ida’s portrait above that, like a photographer, Hammershøi was very aware of the impact and sculpting characteristics of strong side light. Further, his understanding of light was more than just technical.

“Even though photographs may not have formed part of Hammershøi’s process, a photographic awareness is embedded in the drawings and paintings; an awareness that the picture has captured more than can be registered at first glance: a mystery, a phenomenon, a memory arising, a play of line and light.”
Annette Rosenvold Hvidt, “Living Inside The Painting,” Hammershøi and Europe (2014)

Hammershøi’s oeuvre consists of portraits, landscapes, architecture, nudes and interiors. However, it was his interiors that were the most popular in his lifetime (1864-1916) and continue to draw the strongest response today. Hammershøi painted over 100 interiors in the various apartments he shared with his wife Ida in Copenhagen. Their home was both his studio and a major motif in his work.

Over a century ago, Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi elevated
“Stay At Home. Work At Home.” to an art form.

Leslie Hossack’s Hammershøi Photographs are part of a larger body of work that explores Hitler’s Berlin, Stalin’s Moscow, Mussolini’s Rome, Churchill’s London, contested sites in Jerusalem, the NATO Headquarter Camp in Kosovo, buildings linked to the Japanese Canadian internment during WWII, the D-Day landing beaches of Normandy, the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands, Scotland’s Freemasons and Sigmund Freud’s Vienna.

To view more photographs by Leslie Hossack, please visit lesliehossack.com

Hammershøi: The National Gallery of Denmark, Part 4

68 1890-1892 View of Christiansborg Palace Late Autumn by Leslie HossackView of Christiansborg Palace Late Autumn (1890-1892)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

72 1896 Amalienborg Square, Copenhagen by Leslie HossackAmalienborg Square, Copenhagen (1896)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

79 1902, The Buildings of the Asiatic Company Seen from St. Anna Street by Leslie HossackThe Buildings of the Asiatic Company Seen from St. Anna Street (1902)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

86 1907, From the Old Christiansborg Palace by Leslie HossackFrom the Old Christiansborg Palace (1907)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

88 1908, The Harbour of Copenhagen Seen from Kvaesthusgade by Leslie HossackThe Harbour of Copenhagen Seen from Kvæsthusgade (1908)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

all photographs © 2019 Leslie Hossack

These five Copenhagen landmarks by Vilhelm Hammershøi were photographed by Leslie Hossack in The National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen (Statens Museum for Kunst or SMK). They are among several Hammershøi pieces forming part of the SMK exhibition entitled Sun and Soul.

The first three paintings above are much larger than many of Hammershøi’s works previously shown here on Haute Vitrine. View of Christiansborg Palace Late Autumn is 115.5 x 147.5 cm, Amalienborg Square, Copenhagen is 136.5 x 136.5 cm and Buildings of the Asiatic Company Seen from St. Anna Street is 146.5 x 140.5 cm. Hammershøi determined that the massive structures required big canvases.

“He painted a succession of monumental pictures of historic Danish architecture, always shown as if the buildings stood in a ghost town; that is, quite without the street life that had typified the many Danish urban pictures of preceding decades, and without any hint of the social function the buildings had.”
Kaspar Monrad, “Intense Absence,” Hammershøi and Europe (2014)

Hammershøi’s architectural paintings are the converse of his interiors. It is interesting to note that when painting these urban landmarks, he did not stand outside with his feet firmly rooted to the ground. Rather, he usually painted from a second story window, sealed inside his own world, far above the fray.

Hammershøi’s oeuvre consists of architecture, portraits, landscapes, nudes and interiors. However, it was his interiors that were the most popular in his lifetime (1864-1916) and continue to draw the strongest response today. Hammershøi painted over 100 interiors in the various apartments he shared with his wife Ida in Copenhagen. Their home was both his studio and a major motif in his work.

Over a century ago, Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi elevated
“Stay At Home. Work At Home.” to an art form.

Leslie Hossack’s Hammershøi Photographs are part of a larger body of work that explores Hitler’s Berlin, Stalin’s Moscow, Mussolini’s Rome, Churchill’s London, contested sites in Jerusalem, the NATO Headquarter Camp in Kosovo, buildings linked to the Japanese Canadian internment during WWII, the D-Day landing beaches of Normandy, the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands, Scotland’s Freemasons and Sigmund Freud’s Vienna.

To view more photographs by Leslie Hossack, please visit lesliehossack.com

Hammershøi: The National Gallery of Denmark, Part 5

91 1911, Self Portrait, the Cottage Spurveskjul by Leslie HossackSelf Portrait, the Cottage Spurveskjul (1911)
Collection: Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

all photographs © 2019 Leslie Hossack

Self Portrait, the Cottage Spurveskjul (1911) is one of several self portraits painted by Vilhelm Hammershøi. In this composition, we clearly see the artist’s face, his paint brush and his surroundings. Filling the negative space is an open cottage door whose glass panes reflect yet another window in the room. It is interesting that this exterior door is open whereas many of Hammershøi’s interior paintings feature closed doors that appear to be inoperable.

Felix Kramer, Director General of the Kunstpalast in Dusseldorf, compares doors in Vilhelm Hammershøi’s interiors to the door in a print by Robert Longo entitled Interior Apartment Front Door with Bars (The Freud Cycle), 2004 (Galerie Michael Haas).

“The print shows the hermetically sealed door at the Viennese psychiatrist’s and, not altogether by coincidence, recalls Hammershøi’s works.”
Felix Kramer, “Vilhelm Hammershøi. Interior, Strandgade 30,” At Home with Hammershøi, Ordrupgaard (2016)

Nor is it altogether by coincidence that Leslie Hossack’s series The Freud Photographs includes an image of that very same door. Barred Door in Vestibule, Freud’s Office, Berggasse 19, Vienna (2016) appears below.

Hossack commented: “When researching and photographing Freud’s Vienna and Hammershøi’s Copenhagen, and the life’s work of these two individuals, many similarities became apparent.”

Viewing Leslie Hossack’s Freud Photographs and Hammershøi Photographs in tandem, highlights the interiority of these men and their oeuvre. 

Barred Door in Vestibule, Freud’s Office, Berggasse 19, Vienna 2016 by Leslie HossackBarred Door in Vestibule, Freud’s Office, Berggasse 19, Vienna (2016), Leslie Hossack
Collection: Private Collection

Hammershøi’s oeuvre consists of architecture, portraits, landscapes, nudes and interiors. However, it was his interiors that were the most popular in his lifetime (1864-1916) and continue to draw the strongest response today. Hammershøi painted over 100 interiors in the various apartments he shared with his wife Ida in Copenhagen. Their home was both his studio and a major motif in his work.

Over a century ago, Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi elevated
“Stay At Home. Work At Home.” to an art form.

Leslie Hossack’s Hammershøi Photographs are part of a larger body of work that explores Hitler’s Berlin, Stalin’s Moscow, Mussolini’s Rome, Churchill’s London, contested sites in Jerusalem, the NATO Headquarter Camp in Kosovo, buildings linked to the Japanese Canadian internment during WWII, the D-Day landing beaches of Normandy, the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands, Scotland’s Freemasons and Sigmund Freud’s Vienna.

To view more photographs by Leslie Hossack, please visit lesliehossack.com