Henriette Hahn-Brinckmann, I wonder ...

Henriette Christine Hahn-Brinckmann

(1862-1934)

Danish/German painter and pioneer printmaker.

Exhibited in Germany 1898 and 1901.

(This supposedly portrait of Henriette appeared actually to represent her sister: Henrikka Møller-Hahn. See the comment of sept. 14th 2015) 

Two days ago I read expert Charles' recent posting in Modern Printmakers dealing with an early (1912) William Giles' (1872-1939) print and it left me wondering if Giles' orange sun disk may have been inspired inspired by a print by Henriete Hahn created a decade earlier in 1898.  She was then already known for her innovative floral designs combined with woodblock printing a few years earlier. I understand Giles visited Germany in the early 1900's because I know of his series of 1905 prints depicting the city of Quedlinburg, its castle and surroundings. 

Henriette was born in Kopenhagen in 1862 as the daughter of the sailing-ships captain Christian Hahn and Caroline Nielsen. She attended the Arts and Crafts school in Kopenhagen and was appointed teacher there and later acquired a position at the famous Arts and Craft School for Girls in Hamburg (Kunstgewerbeschule). She left for Paris to work and study in 1892 when Hamburg schools closed because of the outbreak of cholera.  

"Passionsblumen": 1897

She was later to become the third wife of founder and first  director Justus Brinckmann (1843-1915) of the Kunstgewerbe Museum. Earlier she created woodblock print illustrations for his book on Japanese pottery. Brinckmann's fascination for Japanese prints lead to exhibitions in Hamburg as early as 1896. He must have been fascinated by Henriette in person too because returning from Paris she presented him their (illegitimate) daughter in 1893, later marrying him and giving him another 3 children (read Brinckmann's interesting biography here*). During her marriage she was not allowed to be professionally publicly active by her husband, forcing her to continue her artistic career after his death in 1915. 

"Abenstimmung": 1904

Her innovative print "Schwanenwiek" shows a very Art-Deco flock of swans in the "Außer Alster" in Hamburg (Schwanenwik is the name of the Park) and is a purely Impressionist composition of the sun, its light and it's reflections. The swans' differences in perspective and volumes are very un-Japanese. It was printed probably from 6 blocks with watercolor paint, without a key block and with "flowing" colors. The leafless tree and trelliswork on the other hand are very Japanese elements. The orange sun and its reflections could inspired by Claude Monet's 1872 painting.

The vertical dimension of this large print (of an edition of 50 pulled) to emphasize this was meant to be an independent work of art and not an illustration. The print was widely praised and discussed at the time. 

Although Charles' posting was the reason for this posting this is a good opportunity to show some more examples of Hahn innovative works. By birth she is the (almost*) oldest(**) of the first generation of German (Nordic) women working with woodblock printmaking born 1860-1900 and working in Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden and Munich. 

(*) See also the discovery and research on Danish/German printmaker Emma Maier (Meier) (1859-1921) who also worked and teached in the Kunstgewerbe Schule in Hamburg.  

(**) printmaker Eleonore Doelter was born 1855 but only later in life became involved in printmaking.

Information on "Schwanenwiek": Birgit Ahrens in "Wege zur Gabrielle Munter und Käthe Kolwitz, 2013.

All pictures are mouse-clickable to embiggen and borrowed freely from the Internet for friendly, educational and non commercial use only.    

            

Kopenhagen around 1895 in colour

Kopenhagen around 1895

....and let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. (Hamlet Act I, Scene 2) 

Kopenhagen centre: Hochbrücke.

(Mouse-click for super large)

These photolithographic pictures (in the form of colored postcards) came into fashion around 1890. The combination of a large glass-plate negative, with great details, with a new color invention giving soft colored view of many great cities around the world. Visiting Copenhagen along my web-researching Emma Meyer and her world I scraped these together, a nice addition to feel the atmosphere in full color. Color photography had yet to be invented. As were automobiles and flying machines.

General city view and Harbourstreet

Tivoli park (opened 1843) and entrance and the (old) Royal Theatre build 1874.

The Exchange Hall, build 1858

Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844), Danish sculptor was  awarded his Museum build around 1838-46 (above). It is where his famous neo-classical three Graces live.

Copenhagen Helsingborg harbor and Christiansborg Castle ruins.

All pictures mouse-clickable to embiggen

Read here about the proces of photochrome*   

Emma Meyer (Mayer), Danish printmaker

Emma Meyer (Mayer)

(Emilie Leonore Meyer)

1859-1921

Danish landscape painter, arts and crafts artist, teacher

etcher and woodblock printmaker.

It has taken me some time to discover the identity of Emma Mayer. One reason is because there are no records of her as a printmaker in the www. No pictures, no auction sales, nothing but a handful of her paintings. Well actually, there was one, shown in this Blog even, but it was not attributed to her because the signature wasn't recognized. The colours of the Danish flag (var. "Union Jack", or "Danish Star") and the name of one of the earliest cultivated Dahlia varieties could have been a clever clue leading to Denmark. Some say 1882 others claim 1911. Emma had picked a bunch somewhere and saw their decorative potential in a print. 

It’s great to find territory that has not been trodden on before, revealing an obscured and unexpected printmaker is sometimes the reward.

A second reason of not being able to identify her earlier is the coincidence  there’s another contemporary artist-painter, by the same name. Both women have been mixed up before I’ve noticed, even in official writings. The other Emmy Meyer was born 1866 in Frankfurt, joined the Worpswede Artist Colony, was a friend of Otto Ubbelohde and died in Worpswede in 1938. This Emmy was taught and educated artistically in Berlins Zeichen und Mahlschule in the mid 1890’s. The school that for many years was run by Else Schmiedeberg. 

----------------------------------

But my Emma (Emilie Leonore) Meyer was born in Flensburg as third child   of Fritz Meyer (1817-1891) a judge in Denmarks Supreme Court and Maria Frederikke Dalberg (1832-1917).

Three more children were born, the last one was Jennie Sophie, in 1866. She was to become a famous porcelain decorator and painter with the Royal Danish Porcelain Factory and exhibited worldwide.

Emma studied in Denmark with landscape painter Harald Foss (1842-1922) and with Denmarks most important impressionist painter Peder Krøyer (1851-1909) (see before posting) .

Emilie Mundts painting is on the wall in the couples studio next to the portrait of Emilie  Mundts father, a Danish mathematician and politician. 

Emma also followed trainings with painters Emilie Mundt (1843-1922) and Marie Luplau (1848-1925) (above) who were leading a painting school for women within the Danish Academy of Fine Arts. The history of these two women, lovers, great painters and feminists “avant la lettre” and their painting school is well worth reading and perhaps will follow in a next posting. Emma is buried in the same cemetery in Frederiksberg as her father and the two women teachers, and to this day very much loved and appreciated Danish painters.

Here are the pictures of a bundle of woodblock prints that I’ve found recently. Now Emma is finally on the map of Printmakers and Printmaking maybe more examples of her graphic work will show up.

She exhibited in the Royal Charlottenborg Castle from 1885-1922 and won prestigious awards like the Acadamy Award in 1895-96 and the Sødring Price for landscape painting in 1901.

In October 1908 I found her name among the exhibitors in Hamburg showing works from the collections of the Kopenhagen Kunstnerforeningen along with etchings by the the combined contemporary German Masters: Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth, Siegfried Berndt, Emil Nolde, Käthe Kollwitz, Carl Moll, Walter Leistikow and many if not all of the other great names of the period.

Dinkelsbühl

Emma reworked some blocks for her Hamburg Alster print and experimented with slightly different colours. Both prints were in the bundle.

She was in Hamburg again in 1913, along with painter and printmaker Friedrich Lissmann (1880-1815) who’s great prints and sad life story I’ve unveiled in the Linosaurus here* and Gretchen Wohlwill (1878-1962) member of the Hamburg Seccesion with an equally sad biography being Jewish. She had recently returned from Paris studying with Matisse in his Academy (1908-1911)

And I found a clue Emma had been teaching in Hamburgs Arts and Crafts (Kunst und Gewerbe) school. Which has a great museum btw. 100 meters from the main Bahnhof, were concerts are given on authentic instruments and  housing great collections that will take more then one day to visit.

All pictures borowed from the Internet for friendly and educational use only.

Emma Meyer (Mayer) 1888 Nordic Exhibition

In 1888 the Nordic Exhibition in Copenhagen was held to promote the Industrial, Agricultural and Artistic products of Scandinavia. Worries for Denmarks economic progress lay on the basis for organising this promotional “Expo of the North”, an effort drawing attention, visitors and capital to the capital. 

In the wake of this Nordic Exhibition Heinrich Hirschsprung (1836-1908) a self made tobacco millionaire and art maecenas, collector and personal friend of most contemporary Danish painters had the smart idea of organizing a parallel Art Exhibition to show, in the Charlottenborgh Castle, his important Danish art collection. 

The Charlottenborgh Castle is since earliest days the home of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Every year exhibitions were and still are held in spring and a successful career as an artist began and begins here. In 1883 a new exhibition hall was added and build for the purpose.

After Hirschsprung’s death his extensive collections of Danish Art were to become part of the already important and famous Danish National Collection of International Art started in the 18^th century and to accommodate it a new building was build near the National Gallery. 

I remember a perticular discussion in the Blog concerning the alleged use of photography in the etchings of Anders Zorn (1860-1920). In 1990 the opening of files in the Hirschsprung collection revealing a century(!) later the great Peder Krøyer (1851-1909) used photography in Denmarks most famous iconic and treasured paintings after buying his first camera in 1885. Krøyer painted his friends family in 1881 (above), probably without photographic aid, although the scene looks very much staged, everybody in it trying to behave extremely casual. 

In the 1885 Charlottenborgh exhibition among the many works of art and artists exhibiting was a young, still landscape painting, Edward Munch (1863-1944) and sisters Emma Leonora and Jenny Sofie Meyer. It was the year the idea for the Nordic Exhibition to be held in 1888 first arose in which the sisters were also present. Jenny Meyer was and still is famous for her applied art of painting for the Royal Danish Porcelain Factory. I'll tell more about them in next posting.  

Emma painted her sister Jenny at work at the Royal Kopenhagen Porecelain Company. Following the scarce facts on the www she is considered an important Danish women painter and belonging to a group named “the Pioneers”. More details on such a group I was not able to find.  But more about Emma and Jenny in next posting.

Sonderaften pa Skagens Sonderstrand, 1893 by Peder Krøyer

Read here* more about the use of photography in Krøyers paintings after 1885. 

The pictures in this posting show our ancestors didn’t go about these things half hearted. The efforts and expenses to organize big events like this, open for just a few months, in a world without flying machines, automobiles, telephone or radio must have been enormous. For the occasion even Tivoli was rented, locations cleared, new buildings designed, build, rebuild or destroyed afterwards. On the cleared exhibition grounds soon after Copenhagen's new Town Hall (Rådhus) and Square (Rådhuspladsen) was build.

Also held in Europe in or around 1888:

The Glasgow Exhibition on Science, Art and Industry: 5,7 million visitors

The Great Exhibition of Old Masters held in 1888 in the Royal Academy in London.

The London American Exhibition (1887) during Queen Victoria’s golden Jubilee (with the Buffalo Bill show): 2,5 million tickets sold.

And a year later in 1889 the World Expo in Paris, with the infant Eiffel tower, was held drawing over 6 million visitors. 

Next: Emma Meyer (1859-1921) Danish painter and unexpected woodblock printmaker.

All pictures borrowed freely from the Internet for friendly and educational use only.