Laurits Andersen Ring (1854 - 1933) is one of Denmark's foremost artists of the 19th century. His fame today rests in good measure on some of the symbolist works he made during the 1890s, in which themes like death and decrepitude played an important role. But what makes him special as an artist is the way in which he draws an unspoken line between symbolism and realism in most of his works and the way in which he is able to break down any landscape into its most basic elements.
Our little painting was made in 1911, and shows a view of the sea as seen from Greve Beach, south-west of Copenhagen, on the island of Zealand. The artist has kept the composition deliberately simple: divided into three layers, the viewer is invited to look at a slice of azure blue sky set above a green-blue sea. The almost abstract and strict linearity with which Ring has divided his panel gives us almost two separate pictures: the rectangular bands of blue denoting sky and sea stand in contrast to the fine detail given in the lower half of the painting.
The edge of the dune, with grasses surrounding a sandy pit, is painstakingly denoted, with the artist taking care to paint the blowing grasses as thinly as possible, giving them a frail and reedy appearance. The sandy pit still bears the imprint of footsteps. The artist has deliberately practised different styles in this painting: whereas the sea is denoted by a thicker application of paint (albeit some way off impasto), the sky itself has been left almost untouched by paint. In order to denote barely traceable changes in the weather, he has scratched little, short stripes into the panel with the back of his brush. Seen from some distance, this gives an almost imperceptible sense of movement to the sky. He has also scratched his name and date into the panel by the same method. One can sense the almost carefree way in which Ring has gone about making this painting, although with him one can always be sure of a total attention to detail.
The present painting was produced during the summer of 1911, as Ring was holidaying with his family near Greve Beach in a converted caravan. The artist was much taken with the opportunity of playing with different shades of light during his stays at the seaside [1], and perhaps this was a self-conscious reference to his time as a pupil of P.S. Krøyer, Denmark's leading impressionist. Although Ring was never primarily interested in the sea as a subject for his art, his holidays along the coast opened up a new avenue of artistic experimentation for him. In that sense, our little panel is quite a rare work by the artist. One might almost be tempted to wonder whether the Ring who painted at Greve Beach was somehow inspired by more abstract forms of art, although he was never to pursue this in any studied form.
L. A. Ring, born in 1854, was admitted to the Royal Academy Fine Arts in Copenhagen in 1875. He struggled with the classical style of teaching at the Academy, and quit after three years without having completed his studies. Nevertheless, his prodigious talent and ovewrwhelming desire to paint, led him to persevere in making art. He achieved some success, and first exhibited at the annual Charlottenborg exhibition in 1882.
By the late 1880s, Ring's trajectory was firmly in place: he had enrolled at the free artist academy under P.S. Krøyer and had travelled around Europe to study the work of foreign artists. By the 1890s, he was achieving increasing success both at home and abroad. The symbolism of his earlier years never deserted him, although his later years saw a return to an idiosyncratic form of realism.
Ring's art has always formed a mainstay of all leading museums in the Scandinavian world. But recently, international museums have started acquiring paintings by him, including London's National Gallery and the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, USA.
_________________________
1. See for another example; " The Artist's Wife with the Family Caravan", 1911, on p. 245 of P.N. Larsen (ed), L.A. Ring. On the Edge of the World, (Copenhagen, 2006).
Our little painting was made in 1911, and shows a view of the sea as seen from Greve Beach, south-west of Copenhagen, on the island of Zealand. The artist has kept the composition deliberately simple: divided into three layers, the viewer is invited to look at a slice of azure blue sky set above a green-blue sea. The almost abstract and strict linearity with which Ring has divided his panel gives us almost two separate pictures: the rectangular bands of blue denoting sky and sea stand in contrast to the fine detail given in the lower half of the painting.
The edge of the dune, with grasses surrounding a sandy pit, is painstakingly denoted, with the artist taking care to paint the blowing grasses as thinly as possible, giving them a frail and reedy appearance. The sandy pit still bears the imprint of footsteps. The artist has deliberately practised different styles in this painting: whereas the sea is denoted by a thicker application of paint (albeit some way off impasto), the sky itself has been left almost untouched by paint. In order to denote barely traceable changes in the weather, he has scratched little, short stripes into the panel with the back of his brush. Seen from some distance, this gives an almost imperceptible sense of movement to the sky. He has also scratched his name and date into the panel by the same method. One can sense the almost carefree way in which Ring has gone about making this painting, although with him one can always be sure of a total attention to detail.
The present painting was produced during the summer of 1911, as Ring was holidaying with his family near Greve Beach in a converted caravan. The artist was much taken with the opportunity of playing with different shades of light during his stays at the seaside [1], and perhaps this was a self-conscious reference to his time as a pupil of P.S. Krøyer, Denmark's leading impressionist. Although Ring was never primarily interested in the sea as a subject for his art, his holidays along the coast opened up a new avenue of artistic experimentation for him. In that sense, our little panel is quite a rare work by the artist. One might almost be tempted to wonder whether the Ring who painted at Greve Beach was somehow inspired by more abstract forms of art, although he was never to pursue this in any studied form.
L. A. Ring, born in 1854, was admitted to the Royal Academy Fine Arts in Copenhagen in 1875. He struggled with the classical style of teaching at the Academy, and quit after three years without having completed his studies. Nevertheless, his prodigious talent and ovewrwhelming desire to paint, led him to persevere in making art. He achieved some success, and first exhibited at the annual Charlottenborg exhibition in 1882.
By the late 1880s, Ring's trajectory was firmly in place: he had enrolled at the free artist academy under P.S. Krøyer and had travelled around Europe to study the work of foreign artists. By the 1890s, he was achieving increasing success both at home and abroad. The symbolism of his earlier years never deserted him, although his later years saw a return to an idiosyncratic form of realism.
Ring's art has always formed a mainstay of all leading museums in the Scandinavian world. But recently, international museums have started acquiring paintings by him, including London's National Gallery and the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, USA.
_________________________
1. See for another example; " The Artist's Wife with the Family Caravan", 1911, on p. 245 of P.N. Larsen (ed), L.A. Ring. On the Edge of the World, (Copenhagen, 2006).
View from Greve Beach, 1911
Signed and dated lower right: "L. A. Ring. 1911"
Oil on panel
29 x 35 cm
Provenance
Private collection, Denmark
Exhibitions
Winkel & Magnussen; exhibition "L. A. Ring"; November 1911, Copenhagen.Literature
H.C. Christensen, Tillaeg til Fortegnelse over malerier og Studier af L.A. Ring (Copenhagen, 1922), nr. 682.
Laurits Andersen Ring (1854 - 1933) is one of Denmark's foremost artists of the 19th century. His fame today rests in good measure on some of the symbolist works he made during the 1890s, in which themes like death and decrepitude played an important role. But what makes him special as an artist is the way in which he draws an unspoken line between symbolism and realism in most of his works and the way in which he is able to break down any landscape into its most basic elements.
Our little painting was made in 1911, and shows a view of the sea as seen from Greve Beach, south-west of Copenhagen, on the island of Zealand. The artist has kept the composition deliberately simple: divided into three layers, the viewer is invited to look at a slice of azure blue sky set above a green-blue sea. The almost abstract and strict linearity with which Ring has divided his panel gives us almost two separate pictures: the rectangular bands of blue denoting sky and sea stand in contrast to the fine detail given in the lower half of the painting.
The edge of the dune, with grasses surrounding a sandy pit, is painstakingly denoted, with the artist taking care to paint the blowing grasses as thinly as possible, giving them a frail and reedy appearance. The sandy pit still bears the imprint of footsteps. The artist has deliberately practised different styles in this painting: whereas the sea is denoted by a thicker application of paint (albeit some way off impasto), the sky itself has been left almost untouched by paint. In order to denote barely traceable changes in the weather, he has scratched little, short stripes into the panel with the back of his brush. Seen from some distance, this gives an almost imperceptible sense of movement to the sky. He has also scratched his name and date into the panel by the same method. One can sense the almost carefree way in which Ring has gone about making this painting, although with him one can always be sure of a total attention to detail.
The present painting was produced during the summer of 1911, as Ring was holidaying with his family near Greve Beach in a converted caravan. The artist was much taken with the opportunity of playing with different shades of light during his stays at the seaside [1], and perhaps this was a self-conscious reference to his time as a pupil of P.S. Krøyer, Denmark's leading impressionist. Although Ring was never primarily interested in the sea as a subject for his art, his holidays along the coast opened up a new avenue of artistic experimentation for him. In that sense, our little panel is quite a rare work by the artist. One might almost be tempted to wonder whether the Ring who painted at Greve Beach was somehow inspired by more abstract forms of art, although he was never to pursue this in any studied form.
L. A. Ring, born in 1854, was admitted to the Royal Academy Fine Arts in Copenhagen in 1875. He struggled with the classical style of teaching at the Academy, and quit after three years without having completed his studies. Nevertheless, his prodigious talent and ovewrwhelming desire to paint, led him to persevere in making art. He achieved some success, and first exhibited at the annual Charlottenborg exhibition in 1882.
By the late 1880s, Ring's trajectory was firmly in place: he had enrolled at the free artist academy under P.S. Krøyer and had travelled around Europe to study the work of foreign artists. By the 1890s, he was achieving increasing success both at home and abroad. The symbolism of his earlier years never deserted him, although his later years saw a return to an idiosyncratic form of realism.
Ring's art has always formed a mainstay of all leading museums in the Scandinavian world. But recently, international museums have started acquiring paintings by him, including London's National Gallery and the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, USA.
_________________________
1. See for another example; " The Artist's Wife with the Family Caravan", 1911, on p. 245 of P.N. Larsen (ed), L.A. Ring. On the Edge of the World, (Copenhagen, 2006).
Our little painting was made in 1911, and shows a view of the sea as seen from Greve Beach, south-west of Copenhagen, on the island of Zealand. The artist has kept the composition deliberately simple: divided into three layers, the viewer is invited to look at a slice of azure blue sky set above a green-blue sea. The almost abstract and strict linearity with which Ring has divided his panel gives us almost two separate pictures: the rectangular bands of blue denoting sky and sea stand in contrast to the fine detail given in the lower half of the painting.
The edge of the dune, with grasses surrounding a sandy pit, is painstakingly denoted, with the artist taking care to paint the blowing grasses as thinly as possible, giving them a frail and reedy appearance. The sandy pit still bears the imprint of footsteps. The artist has deliberately practised different styles in this painting: whereas the sea is denoted by a thicker application of paint (albeit some way off impasto), the sky itself has been left almost untouched by paint. In order to denote barely traceable changes in the weather, he has scratched little, short stripes into the panel with the back of his brush. Seen from some distance, this gives an almost imperceptible sense of movement to the sky. He has also scratched his name and date into the panel by the same method. One can sense the almost carefree way in which Ring has gone about making this painting, although with him one can always be sure of a total attention to detail.
The present painting was produced during the summer of 1911, as Ring was holidaying with his family near Greve Beach in a converted caravan. The artist was much taken with the opportunity of playing with different shades of light during his stays at the seaside [1], and perhaps this was a self-conscious reference to his time as a pupil of P.S. Krøyer, Denmark's leading impressionist. Although Ring was never primarily interested in the sea as a subject for his art, his holidays along the coast opened up a new avenue of artistic experimentation for him. In that sense, our little panel is quite a rare work by the artist. One might almost be tempted to wonder whether the Ring who painted at Greve Beach was somehow inspired by more abstract forms of art, although he was never to pursue this in any studied form.
L. A. Ring, born in 1854, was admitted to the Royal Academy Fine Arts in Copenhagen in 1875. He struggled with the classical style of teaching at the Academy, and quit after three years without having completed his studies. Nevertheless, his prodigious talent and ovewrwhelming desire to paint, led him to persevere in making art. He achieved some success, and first exhibited at the annual Charlottenborg exhibition in 1882.
By the late 1880s, Ring's trajectory was firmly in place: he had enrolled at the free artist academy under P.S. Krøyer and had travelled around Europe to study the work of foreign artists. By the 1890s, he was achieving increasing success both at home and abroad. The symbolism of his earlier years never deserted him, although his later years saw a return to an idiosyncratic form of realism.
Ring's art has always formed a mainstay of all leading museums in the Scandinavian world. But recently, international museums have started acquiring paintings by him, including London's National Gallery and the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, USA.
_________________________
1. See for another example; " The Artist's Wife with the Family Caravan", 1911, on p. 245 of P.N. Larsen (ed), L.A. Ring. On the Edge of the World, (Copenhagen, 2006).
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