VILHELM HAMMERSHOI /ALLEMAND

by Felix Krämer, Naoki Sato, Barbara Holle

"Painted with extreme economy, Vilhelm Hammershoi's distinctive subject-matter is centred on haunting interiors. Dispensing with anecdotal detail, he depicted his apartment as a series of disturbingly empty, silent spaces. This same disquieting stillness is apparent in his portraits, landscapes and city views of his native Copenhagen and of London, in all of which the passage of time appears to have been inexplicably suspended." This book, the catalogue of the artist's first retrospective to be held in the United Kingdom and Japan, is illustrated with works spanning all stages of Hammershoi's career. Numerous little-knows photographs of the artist, his family and apartments are also included. Intriguing essays and detailed catalogue entries by leading scholars explore the singularity of the artist's vision, examining his links with Dutch masters of the seventeenth century and the painters of the early nineteenth-century Danish Golden Age, and placing his achievement in the context of fin-de-siecle Symbolist art.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History

167 pages, Hardcover

First published July 7, 2008

Reviews

[Maurizio Adamo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non è questo il libro che ho letto e, nonostante abbia un codice ISBN, rimane introvabile qui su Goodreads. Il vero libro s’intitola Hammershøi, I giorni segreti. Scritto da Paola Ferrantelli.

“Quali sono i modi di dar voce al silenzio quando il silenzio è il centro vitale di un quadro?
È quanto si chiede chi osserva le opere del pittore danese Vilhelm Hammershøi.
Ed è quanto si chiede Paola Ferrantelli in questo testo
"I giorni segreti" che contiene due racconti "Come uno scoiattolo in gabbia: i giorni segreti di Ida Hammershøi"
e "L'uomo vestito di grigio".
Come Hammershøi anche l'autrice sa regalare parole al silenzio e rivelare i suoi giorni segreti senza dirli.”

[Cat {Pemberley and Beyond} · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw the exhibition at the RA that this book was written to complement. Gosh, does it do that well! many of the details about necks, conflicts and silence in Hammershoi's work were explored.

[Gerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book compliments the exhibiton at the Royal Academy very well. His studies of silence, emptiness and space are really full of peace and conflict. The figures anonymous and opaque seem to transmit such a dynamic internal world of conflict that their is an immediate sense or 'I know...' Wonderful exhibition and a good book to compliment it.

[Ryuichi Maeda]

great.