Famous Hans Christian Andersen was as a storyteller. However, his silhouettes were asked. Nearly 400 of them are. The Kunsthalle Bremen is dedicated to the artist, now an exhibition.
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Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
The Botanist
A bizarre plant male with a large head, framed by petals. The storyteller Andersen depicts contempt for his idea of the spirit of nature. “The vibrant flower, which experienced something that has feelings, is a motif that Andersen has been very much appreciated”, says Detlef Klein, one of the curators of the exhibition “Hans Christian Andersen. A Poet with pen and scissors”.
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Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
White mill man with two Ole Lukøjes
The motif of the mill workers Andersen from Childhood. Mills specific to his time, the landscape of Denmark. “Ole Lukøje, the Danish counterpart to the German Sandman,” explains Anne Buschhoff, who curated the exhibition together with Detlef Klein. “He comes in the evening and keeps the types of children an umbrella over the head, which is painted according to the fairy tale interior with beautiful pictures.”
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Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
Ballerinas in a verkorkten bottle
“Andersen’s paper-cuts always have something to do with his biography,” says Anne Buschhoff. “He dreamed of a career as an actor, dancer or singer, but the dream was not fulfilled.” Many of the motifs in the exhibition showed, therefore, ballerinas and theater stages. Here, Andersen has locked its two dancers in a corked bottle.
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Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
Fantasy cutting for Dorothea Melchior
This large-format, paper-cut shows all the motifs of Hans Christian Andersen. It is one of his last and most elaborate works, which he created for Dorothea Melchior, a fellow merchant’s wife. To see two dead heads are next to the mill men, Harlequins and ballerinas. Apparently, the suspect Andersen will be soon end of life already.
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Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
Oriental Building
Hans Christian Andersen lived around a lot. His travels have led him through Europe to Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire, where he was inspired. As a child, he read also the tale of 1001 night. “See you in my thoughts the most gorgeous spell of palaces,” he recalled in 1841 to travel in the Orient. In his work, several Oriental imagination-castles.
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Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
Page from the picture book for Agnete Lind
In the Bremen exhibition in addition to the scissor cuts are also shown collages of Hans Christian Andersen. He made use of the then emerging
that is understood and illustrated. Andersen was interested in the collages, both for the Visual as well as the materiality. So he combined aware of the types of paper, which had different surfaces and textures. -
Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
Vesuvius (1834)
On his trip to Italy, Andersen was an outbreak of a witness to a volcano. He saw a broad stream of lava flowed to the Vesuvius, which impressed him strongly. In this drawing, he renounced entirely on internal structures. What today seems modern, alienated his contemporaries. “He could not be to the scale of the academic character art fair”, says Detlef stone.
-
Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
Man with Turban (1871)
In his final years Andersen took a liking to the so-called blot technique, an experimental technique is based on ink blots, the – mostly randomly – the paper drops. From this accidental Form inspired small images such as this there may be tiny here, the process in which Andersen also impressions of his travels appeared.
-
Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
The Botanist
A bizarre plant male with a large head, framed by petals. The storyteller Andersen depicts contempt for his idea of the spirit of nature. “The vibrant flower, which experienced something that has feelings, is a motif that Andersen has been very much appreciated”, says Detlef Klein, one of the curators of the exhibition “Hans Christian Andersen. A Poet with pen and scissors”.
-
Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
White mill man with two Ole Lukøjes
The motif of the mill workers Andersen from Childhood. Mills specific to his time, the landscape of Denmark. “Ole Lukøje, the Danish counterpart to the German Sandman,” explains Anne Buschhoff, who curated the exhibition together with Detlef Klein. “He comes in the evening and keeps the types of children an umbrella over the head, which is painted according to the fairy tale interior with beautiful pictures.”
-
Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
Ballerinas in a verkorkten bottle
“Andersen’s paper-cuts always have something to do with his biography,” says Anne Buschhoff. “He dreamed of a career as an actor, dancer or singer, but the dream was not fulfilled.” Many of the motifs in the exhibition showed, therefore, ballerinas and theater stages. Here, Andersen has locked its two dancers in a corked bottle.
-
Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
Fantasy cutting for Dorothea Melchior
This large-format, paper-cut shows all the motifs of Hans Christian Andersen. It is one of his last and most elaborate works, which he created for Dorothea Melchior, a fellow merchant’s wife. To see two dead heads are next to the mill men, Harlequins and ballerinas. Apparently, the suspect Andersen will be soon end of life already.
-
Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
Oriental Building
Hans Christian Andersen lived around a lot. His travels have led him through Europe to Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire, where he was inspired. As a child, he read also the tale of 1001 night. “See you in my thoughts the most gorgeous spell of palaces,” he recalled in 1841 to travel in the Orient. In his work, several Oriental imagination-castles.
-
Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
Page from the picture book for Agnete Lind
In the Bremen exhibition in addition to the scissor cuts are also shown collages of Hans Christian Andersen. He made use of the then emerging
that is understood and illustrated. Andersen was interested in the collages, both for the Visual as well as the materiality. So he combined aware of the types of paper, which had different surfaces and textures. -
Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
Vesuvius (1834)
On his trip to Italy, Andersen was an outbreak of a witness to a volcano. He saw a broad stream of lava flowed to the Vesuvius, which impressed him strongly. In this drawing, he renounced entirely on internal structures. What today seems modern, alienated his contemporaries. “He could not be to the scale of the academic character art fair”, says Detlef stone.
-
Hans Christian Andersen: a Poet with pen and scissors
Man with Turban (1871)
In his final years Andersen took a liking to the so-called blot technique, an experimental technique is based on ink blots, the – mostly randomly – the paper drops. From this accidental Form inspired small images such as this there may be tiny here, the process in which Andersen also impressions of his travels appeared.
“Paper cuts are the prelude to the Letter,” wrote Hans Christian Andersen in a letter in July 1867. The art of paper-cutting, during his lifetime he was a popular leisure time activities. However, Andersen’s cuts were different than the others. “They were modern,” says the art historian Detlef stone. “They are less playful and with a great behind made sense.”
For Andersen, the scissors were cuts a pure Hobby, to which he devoted himself, however, in detail. “We don’t know how many paper-cuts, there has been a change. However, we have to assume that if today there are still almost 400 of them – were much more”, says Detlef stone. They served mostly as a Presence, adorned Bouquets of flowers or worked as a puppet-figures. “As you can imagine, how many of them are tattered or torn, have been,” said stone. “You could provide the characters some with a little kink, blow on, and then they are moved over the table top.”
Fairy Tales Of Hans Christian Andersen In 1860
Andersen himself would never have come up with the idea, his paper cut-outs exhibit. He would not have sold it also, says Anne Buschhoff, the Bremen exhibition “Hans Christian Andersen. A Poet with pen and scissors” together with Detlef Stein curated. Most of the Works he had given away. “Andersen was a popular partner, he was often loaded in the companies, is told in parallel with this pair of scissors cuts worked. And when the narrative was ended, was finished, the scissors cut, and was then given to the host or one of its children or other guests.”
Andersen and the Pop Art
The silhouettes of the famous fairy tale teller was fascinated by the Pop Art artist Andy Warhol. He knew the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen since his Childhood, knew but cut for a long time nothing of the scissors. In 1987, only a few months before his death, produced Wahrhol a small series to Andersen. It included a portrait of the Danes and three of his paper-cuts, in the typical Warhol Popmanier.
In Germany, Hans Christian Andersen as an artist, as yet, almost unknown. In the German-speaking Andersen-biographies of something is very difficult, unlike in the Danish, consider this Chapter very well. For the two curators, it was a “downright unbeackertes field”, as Detlef Stein puts it, they could tap into. The results in the catalogue, published parallel to the exhibition, read.
Star of the then literature, operation
Hans Christian Andersen was on 2. April 2005 in Odense in Denmark born. He grew up in poor conditions, but managed with the help of his storytelling talents in the society to rise – not least through the promotion of the welfare of the Copenhagen citizens, who took him under their wing. The success as a writer began in the 1830s. “He was a Star in literature”, says Detlef stone. “He could not book a lot of pads to sell, but also his portrait-head enjoyed an incredibly big demand. You knew just the likeness, you knew how the looked like. And that has given him a good income.”
Man with tray on his head
The vast majority of scissor cuts, there are now nearly 400 precisely identifiable and locatable, is located in Denmark. Since they consist of very sensitive papers, the exhibition of high requirements with respect to the light, and humidity, says Detlef stone. “The collections feature original paper-cuts, not give you actually.”
Nevertheless, he and his colleague, Anne Buschhoff were able to convince the Museum in Andersen’s hometown of Odense and the Royal library in Copenhagen to cooperate with the Kunsthalle Bremen, and to make loans available. Will be presented in Bremen, 23 original drawings by Hans Christian Andersen, the 40 scissor cuts and some of his collages, but without a lot of light, says Anne Buschhoff. “We will have to present very dark. It is, so to speak, to give a treasure trove of aesthetics.”
The Exhibition “Hans Christian Andersen. A Poet with pen and scissors” is from the 20. October 2018 up to 24. To see February 2019 in the Bremen Kunsthalle.