�ystein Sj�stad - Christian Krohgs Naturalism

NEW DIRECTIONS IN SCANDINAVIAN STUDIES

Christine Ingebritsen and Andy Nestingen, Series Editors

NEW DIRECTIONS IN SCANDINAVIAN STUDIES

This series offers interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the Nordic region of Scandinavia and the Baltic States and their cultural connections in North America. By redefining the boundaries of Scandinavian studies to include the Baltic States and Scandinavian America, the series presents books that focus on the study of the culture, history, literature, and politics of the North.

Small States in International Relations, edited by Christine Ingebritsen, Iver B. Neumann, Sieglinde Gstohl, and Jessica Beyer

Danish Cookbooks: Domesticity and National Identity, 16161901, by Carol Gold

Crime and Fantasy in Scandinavia: Fiction, Film, and Social Change, by Andrew Nestingen

Selected Plays of Marcus Thrane, translated and introduced by Terje I. Leiren

Munchs Ibsen: A Painters Visions of a Playwright, by Joan Templeton

Knut Hamsun: The Dark Side of Literary Brilliance, by Monika agar

Nordic Exposures: Scandinavian Identities in Classical Hollywood Cinema, by Arne Lunde

Icons of Danish Modernity: Georg Brandes and Asta Nielsen, by Julie K. Allen

Danish Folktales, Legends, and Other Stories, edited and translated by Timothy R. Tangherlini

The Power of Song: Nonviolent National Culture in the Baltic Singing Revolution, by Guntis midchens

Church Resistance to Nazism in Norway, 19401945, by Arne Hassing

Christian Krohgs Naturalism, by ystein Sjstad

Fascism and Modernist Literature in Norway, by Dean Krouk

Sacred to the Touch: Nordic and Baltic Religious Wood Carving, by Thomas A. DuBois

Christian Krohgs Naturalism

ystein Sjstad

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS

Seattle and London

Publication of Christian Krohgs Naturalism has been aided by a grant from the Millard Meiss Publication Fund of the College Art Association.

Additional support was provided by the Research Council of Norway and the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Washington.

Copyright 2017 by the University of Washington Press

Printed and bound in the United States of America

Composed in Adobe Caslon Pro, typeface designed by William Caslon

21 20 19 18 17 5 4 3 2 1

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

University of Washington Press

www.washington.edu/uwpress

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Sjstad, ystein, author.

Title: Christian Krohgs naturalism / ystein Sjstad.

Description: Seattle : University of Washington Press, 2017. | Series: New directions in Scandinavian studies | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2017017194 (print) | LCCN 2017019354 (ebook) | ISBN 9780295742076 (ebook) | ISBN 9780295742069 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Krohg, Christian, 18521925Criticism and interpretation. | Naturalism in artEurope. | Realism in artEurope. | EuropeIntellectual life19th century.

Classification: LCC ND773.K68 (ebook) | LCC ND773.K68 S59 2017 (print) | DDC 759.9481dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017017194

Cover image: (front) Detail. Christian Krohg, Albertine in the Police Doctors Waiting Room (1887). Oil on canvas, 211 326 cm. Photo: Jacques Lathion/The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo. (back) Christian Krohg, Port Side! (1879). Oil on canvas, 99 70 cm. Photo: Jacques Lathion / The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo.

The paper used in this publication is acid-free and meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.481984.

For my mother, Asbjrg Sjstad

Contents

Christian Krohg in Skagen
Painting according to Taine

Naturalism and the Beholder
Sympathy and Theatricality

Naturalist Paragone
Literature and Painting

Albertine in the Police Doctors Waiting Room
Panopticon, Spectacle, Speculum

Modern Pessimism
From Naturalism to Symbolism

EPILOGUE
Naturalism Is Dead, Long Live Naturalism!

Illustrations

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Acknowledgments

The modern method, which I strive to pursue, and which is beginning to be introduced in all the moral sciences, consists in considering human products, and particularly works of art, as facts and products of which it is essential to mark the characteristics and seek the causes, and nothing more. Thus understood, science neither proscribes nor pardons; it verifies and explains. It does not say to you, Despise Dutch art because it is vulgar, and prize only Italian art. Nor does it say to you, Despise Gothic art because it is vulgar, and prize only Greek art. It leaves everyone free to follow their own predilections, to prefer that which is germane to ones temperament, and to study with the greatest care that which best corresponds to the development of ones own mind.

HIPPOLYTE TAINE

This book has been long in the making. My passion for Christian Krohgs art started when I flipped through a coffee-table book with Norwegian artwork at my local school library. I was instantly struck by Krohgs emotional way of painting people; I immediately connected with his figures. A few years later, when I was able to view for the first time an original Krohg canvas, I was struck by his wonderful sense of color and his playful brushwork. At the same time, I became more interested in Krohgs character and his important contributions to Norwegian art as a teacher, art critic, author, editor, journalist, and activist.

As time passed, I grew more involved with nineteenth-century French art, but a few years ago, I decided to return to Krohg and his work in a more dedicated manner and try to place his art in a European context. Could Krohg be understood as an original artist at work on the larger art scene, or was he strictly a local Norwegian hero? In 2011, I was granted a three-year postdoctoral scholarship from the Norwegian Research Council for my project Christian Krohgs Naturalism: Painting in the Light of mile Zolas Mthode Exprimentale. This book is the result. With it, I hope to show that Krohg truly can be understood as one of the most original naturalist painters of late nineteenth-century Europe.

Many people have helped me on this journey with Krohg and his work. First, I must thank ivind Storm Bjerke, who has followed my work closely for many years. His support has been of extreme importance. I must also give my thanks to Norman Bryson. During my stay at the University of California, San Diego, in 2007 and 2008, I wrote a paper on Krohgs naturalist art for Brysons Re-thinking Art History course. Our conversations on this topic inspired me to return to this material after I had finished my book on French art,