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PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR MICHAEL ANCHER DANISH, 1849-1927 PÅ STRANDEN, SKAGEN (ON SKAGEN BEACH)

signed Michael Ancher l.r.

oil on canvas

LITERATURE AND REFERENCES

Elisabeth Fabritius and Jan Sibrandtsens, Skagen i gamle fotografier, kagen, 1966, p. 70, photograph of Ancher painting the present work
CATALOGUE NOTE

Michael Ancher first visited Skagen, then an unspoilt fishing village at Jutland's northern tip, in 1874. Ancher's work focused on the native fishermen. His group portraits depicted the harsh, gritty outdoor life of Skagen's tough and dignified fishermen. Thus evolved a monumental iconography of virility, quiet fortitude, and truth, whose political significance, as has often been noted, ran deep: 'the newly potent veneration of folk spirit and culture dovetailed precisely with the tenor of increasingly assertive Nordic nationalism' (Northern Light: Realism and Symbolism in Scandinavian Painting 1880-1910, exh. Cat., Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, 1982, p. 18). Whether depicted in their courageous daily battle with the elements or - as in the present work - enjoying a moment of respite, Ancher's noble characters were understood to embody a primordial ideal of 'authentic' Danish identity unchallenged by trade, communication and transport links rapidly encroaching on the area during this period.

Skagen had not only a special significance for Ancher because of its outstanding natural beauty and the affable good nature of its inhabitants, but also because of the special quality of its light that is reflected by the vast expanse of light golden sand and the sea at the tip of Skagen, where the Baltic and the North sea meet. Painting out of doors enabled Ancher to capture the luminosity of the area, as well as giving him the opportunity to paint his sitters in their natural environment, rather than ask them to contrive poses in a studio, which enhanced the realism and 'truthfulness' of compositions such as the present work (see fig. 1).

Fig. 1, A photograph of Ancher painting the present work in situ on the beach in Skagen ------ 112D05101