what is in in Scandinavia

I am not a scholar like Mark Webber, nor an analyst like John Haber. However, as I live in a safe distant from N.Y. someone may be interested to hear what is in here.

A week ago I made a museum tour. I'm not in position to evaluate what I saw, I rather give a reportage. It may cast some illumination to the 'realistic' debate.

In Stockholm, Sweden Millesgaard Museum had apparently very comprehensive show of Malevich. A nice range of the development in style.

Moderna Museet had a special show on 'After the Wall' East European art of last decade. For me it was too much of Video, multimedia and performance. There must be an strong urge to catch up. It seemed not to have deep roots in what I know of east European culture. The show more confirms what I understand as Erik's notation that art is what we learn to regard as art. I concentrated to the basic collection that is displayed extensively after the enlargement. Plenty of stuff that looks different in vivo from the reproductions in books.

National Galleriet had a large collection of Hill's works. The emphasis was in the works before and during of his mental illnes. A travel from impressionism to inner visions.

Magasin 3 displayed Per Kirkeby.

Denmark: Louisiana, a place worth of visiting even without the artworks. A large exhibition on Magritte.

Statens Museum for Kunst, reopened after renovation, the Danes know how to build art museums. They had a fascinating show on trompe d'oel paintings from 17th century. The other show was a private collection of drawings. Not very recent works, the collector lived in the middle of 18th century. Special thanks, while the photography was restricted as usual, they gladly borrow portable chairs to those who want to make drawings.

Helsinki, Finland: This years name is Edward Munch. In summer a great show of painting at the caves of Retretti. Now the graphic works at Riihimäki Museum and paintings of the German period in the State Museum in Helsinki.

Norvegians are well represented. Amos Anderson displayed Odd Nerdum and erotic sculptures of Vigeland.

To sum up. Symbolism and surrealism are In. The Kirkeby in Sthlm was the only major sign of Abstract painting. We have a boom of representational but not naturalistic art.

- lauri A tiny ps. remark: In Louisiana was a Magritte ( the feet with the bootsraps) borrowed from Moderna Museet Sthlm. I saw the piece also in Sthlm the day before. Apparently the Swedish museum displayed a copy, with no reference to unauthentity. I was surprized.

Lauri, do me a favor as you keep abreast of art in Scandinavia. Make a mental note of 'Leif Salmgren' and let me know if his name ever pops up on the art scene rosters.

I met Leif and his wife Elenore (French) in the States in 1979, and we became great friends. When he returned to Sweden (Nordmaling) we corresponded for a while, but eventually lost contact. We were exchange ideas about old Nordic art motifs (Horror Vacui - fear of empty space) when we were last in contact. At the time of our meeting, Leif was well established as a painter, and exhibiting regularly in Sweden. Oh, by the way, he is from that area where Finland and Sweden confront each other, and is actually half Finnish, bilingual etc. He told me some great stories about working in the woods with a couple of pretty rugged Finnish loggers. My favorite was when his co-worker had a bad toothache. He dug around in his toolbox and came up with a pair of pliers, all covered with power saw oil, woodchips, and grease, and handed them to Leif and said 'Here, pull this one out' pointing to the bad tooth as he stretched the corner of his mouth back. Leif wouldn't do it, so the other partner said 'I'll pull that son of a bitch out!' And he did. The patient then broke out in a great, but bloody, smile. 'Whew, that feels a hell of a lot better now!'

Your survey of art in S. is very interesting. Eight or nine years ago there was a flash of interest in Soviet art forms made in the pre-stalinist era in the San Francisco area. What I found interesting was the industrial arts

Lauri,

Thanks for the Scaninavian overview!

Is the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershoi (a big show at the Guggenheim NYC 1998) shown, or is he highly regarded in art history books, or is he lost in obscurity? He loved Whister's work and tried to meet him at one point but they missed each other.

Anyway, if anyone loves neutral colours and a very limited palette, classic forms and technique with a modernist lack of detail - check out his work.

'VILHELM HAMMERSHOI : 1864-1916 Danish Painter of Solitude and Light' ISBN0-8109-6915-0