The Great Relief (Danish : Det Store Relief) is a sculpture by the Danish artist J.F. Willumsen completed in 1928. Consisting mainly of marble and gilt bronze, it was included in the 2006 Danish Culture Canon as a masterpiece of Danish culture.
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in Denmark and in the region of Southern Schleswig in northern Germany, where it has minority language status. Also, minor Danish-speaking communities are found in Norway, Sweden, Spain, the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Argentina. Due to immigration and language shift in urban areas, around 15–20% of the population of Greenland speak Danish as their first language.
The Danish Culture Canon consists of 108 works of cultural excellence in eight categories: architecture, visual arts, design and crafts, film, literature, music, performing arts, and children's culture. An initiative of Brian Mikkelsen in 2004, it was developed by a series of committees under the auspices of the Danish Ministry of Culture in 2006–2007 as "a collection and presentation of the greatest, most important works of Denmark's cultural heritage." Each category contains 12 works although music contains 12 works of score music and 12 of popular music and the literature section's 12th item is an anthology of 24 works.
Willumsen first thought of creating the relief when he was at the Chicago World Fair in 1893, envisaging it as a decoration for a wall in one of the city's bars. He started working on it after returning to Paris the same year and continued its development over the next five or six years in Copenhagen. But it was only when he had received an official commission for the work in 1920 that he worked towards its completion, using a large plaster wall specially erected in his house in Stradagervej as a base. Willumsen supervised the selection and cutting of the variously coloured pieces of Carrara marble in Lazzarini's Italian workshop. [1]
The World's Columbian Exposition was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival to the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, the large water pool, represented the long voyage Columbus took to the New World. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis for the honor of hosting the fair. The Exposition was an influential social and cultural event and had a profound effect on architecture, sanitation, the arts, Chicago's self-image, and American industrial optimism.
Carrara marble is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It is quarried in the city of Carrara located in the province of Massa and Carrara in the Lunigiana, the northernmost tip of modern-day Tuscany, Italy.
In his earliest notes on the work, Willumsen explained he intended to illustrate various degrees of happiness by using different symbols. The lowest degree, which he labels tragicomical, is strong but short-lived without any lasting effects. He sees it as being symbolized by "grotesque musicians". At the middle level comes sensuality or parody, not as powerful as the first but nevertheless leaving its traces. His symbol here is a man and a woman called "the parody". The strange thing is that the woman is dressed in men's battle attire while the man is dressed in a woman's clothes. According to Willumsen, the reaction of the opposite sex is a "quivering sensation" leaving a greater impression than the strong burst of humour at the lowest level. The third and highest level for Willumsen is aesthetic joy. To achieve it, the individual needs to have a sense of beauty. [2]
When presenting his work in 1928, Willumsen described it as a "collocation of figures for Willumsen's view of existence and human life". The relief, he explained, centres on two "giants", dividing it into positive and negative parts. "One of the giants, the one on the left, is designed to represent cool 'reflection', or perhaps more accurately cool 'calculation'. Above his outstretched right arm, there are two large figures to the left, a man in women's clothing called 'Weakness', tyrannized by a woman, an armour-clad fury called 'War'. The other giant, the one on the right, who is holding's the first one's hand, has a soft expression, he should perhaps be called 'Unsophistication' or 'Instinct', his eyes are closed. On his outstretched left art there are two large figures, a man: 'the Worker', the symbol of will and deed, and 'a Woman' who admiringly and affectionately presses the Worker's had against her throbbing heart." Around the six large figures, there are many smaller figures. They are people 'who along the way go through different states of mind such as rest, fear and suffering, moving in an anticlockwise direction, starting with 'the Worker' and finishing at life's greatest state of happiness 'the golden couple'. [3]
The Great Relief can be seen in J.F. Willumsens Museum in Frederikssund, open Thursday to Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm. [3]
J.F. Willumsens Museum is in Frederikssund. The museum is an art museum dedicated to the works of the artist Jens Ferdinand Willumsen and was opened in 1957. The museum is located in Frederikssund Municipality.
Frederikssund is a Danish town, seat of the Frederikssund Municipality, in the Region Hovedstaden with a population of 15,865. It received the status of market town in 1810. The town is famous for its annual Viking Games as well as for the J.F. Willumsen museum. Since 1935, it has been connected to Hornsherred via the Kronprins Frederik Bridge.
Bertel Thorvaldsen was a Danish sculptor of international fame and medallist, who spent most of his life (1797–1838) in Italy. Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen into a Danish/Icelandic family of humble means, and was accepted to the Royal Danish Academy of Art when he was eleven years old. Working part-time with his father, who was a wood carver, Thorvaldsen won many honors and medals at the academy. He was awarded a stipend to travel to Rome and continue his education.
Luca della Robbia (1399/1400–1482) was an Italian sculptor from Florence. Della Robbia is noted for his colorful, tin-glazed terracotta statuary, a technique which he invented and passed on to his nephew Andrea della Robbia and great-nephews Giovanni della Robbia and Girolamo della Robbia. Though a leading sculptor in stone, he worked primarily in terracotta after developing his technique in the early 1440s. His large workshop produced both cheaper works cast from molds in multiple versions, and more expensive one-off individually modeled pieces.
The Archibald Fountain, properly called the J. F. Archibald Memorial Fountain is located in Hyde Park, in central Sydney. It is named after J. F. Archibald, owner and editor of The Bulletin magazine, who bequeathed funds to have it built. Archibald specified that it must be designed by a French artist, both because of his great love of French culture and to commemorate the association of Australia and France in World War I. He wished Sydney to aspire to Parisian civic design and ornamentation. The artist chosen was François-Léon Sicard, who completed it in Paris in 1926 but never saw the sculpture be placed in Sydney, where it was unveiled on 14 March 1932 by the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Samuel Walder.
A lamassu is an Assyrian protective deity, often depicted as having a human head, the body of a bull or a lion, and bird wings. In some writings, it is portrayed to represent a female deity. A less frequently used name is shedu, which refers to the male counterpart of a lamassu. Lammasu represent the zodiacs, parent-stars or constellations.
The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art.
Frederiksborg Castle is a palatial complex in Hillerød, Denmark. It was built as a royal residence for King Christian IV of Denmark-Norway in the early 17th century, replacing an older castle acquired by Frederick II and becoming the largest Renaissance residence in Scandinavia. Situated on three islets in the Slotssøen, it is adjoined by a large formal garden in the Baroque style.
The Fred F. French Building is a 38-story skyscraper on the northeast corner of 45th Street at 551 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, New York City.
Johannes Wiedewelt, Danish neoclassical sculptor, was born in Copenhagen to royal sculptor to the Danish Court, Just Wiedewelt, and his wife Birgitte Lauridsdatter. Following in his father's footsteps, he too became a royal sculptor introducing neoclassical ideals to Denmark in the form of palace decorations, garden sculptures and artifacts and, especially, memorial monuments. He was undoubtedly the best known Danish sculptor before Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Carl Frederik Tietgen was a Danish financier and industrialist. The founder of numerous prominent Danish companies, many of which are still in operation today, he played an important role in the industrialisation of Denmark. Notably also forming conglomerates, several of Tietgen's companies attained a monopoly-like status, which cemented their durability.
Jens Ferdinand Willumsen was a Danish artist who originally studied under Laurits Tuxen and Peder Severin Krøyer, but soon became associated with the movements of Symbolism and Expressionism. Although he was Danish, Willumsen lived almost half of his life in France. Besides painting, Willumsen had interests in sculpture, architecture, ceramics, and photography, and was an accomplished engraver. His sculpture The Great Relief was included in the 2006 Danish Culture Canon as one of Denmark's cultural masterpieces.
Photography in Denmark has developed from strong participation and interest in the very beginnings of the art in 1839 to the success of a considerable number of Danes in the world of photography today.
Carl Wilhelm Daniel Rohl-Smith was a Danish American sculptor who was active in Europe and the United States from 1870 to 1900. He sculpted a number of life-size and small bronzes based on Greco-Roman mythological themes in Europe as well as a wide number of bas-reliefs, busts, funerary monuments, and statues throughout Denmark, the German Confederation, and Italy. Emigrating to the United States in 1886, he once more produced a number of sculptures for private citizens. His most noted American works were a statue of a soldier for a Battle of the Alamo memorial in Texas, a statue of Benjamin Franklin for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, a statue group in Chicago commemorating the Fort Dearborn Massacre, and the General William Tecumseh Sherman Monument in Washington, D.C.
Danish sculpture as a nationally recognized art form can be traced back to 1752 when Jacques Saly was commissioned to execute a statue of King Frederick V of Denmark on horseback. While Bertel Thorvaldsen was undoubtedly the country's most prominent contributor, many other players have produced fine work, especially in the areas of Neoclassicism, Realism, and in Historicism, the latter resulting from growing consciousness of a national identity. More recently, Danish sculpture has been inspired by European trends, especially those from Paris, including Surrealism and Modernism.
Svend Rathsack was a Danish sculptor.
Den Frie Udstilling is a Danish artists association, founded in 1891 by artists in protest against the admission requirements for the Kunsthal Charlottenborg. Modeled on the Salon des Refusés, it is Denmark's oldest association of artists. Now located on Copenhagen's Oslo Plads next to Østerport Station, it works as an arts centre, continuing to exhibit works created and selected by contemporary artists rather than those chosen by cultural authorities.
Ryvangen or Ryvangskvarteret is a neighbourhood of single-family detached homes in the northern part of Østerbro, on the border with Hellerup, in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jørgen Emil Aabye, born Olsen, was a Danish painter. His works were varied widely, ranging from religious art to portraits and landscapes. Above all, he is remembered for his portraits.
Otto Frederik Theobald Evens was a Danish sculptor.
Ingeborg Plockross Irminger (1872–1962) was a Danish sculptor who is remembered both for her busts and for the miniature porcelain statues of animals and human figures she designed while working for Bing & Grøndahl. A bronze cast of her 1903 bust of the writer Herman Bang was installed on Sankt Annæ Plads in Copenhagen in 2912.