Vilhelm Kyhn

Peter Vilhelm Carl Kyhn, (March 30, 1819-May 11, 1903), Danish national romantic landscape painter, was born in Copenhagen to Carl Gottlieb Kyhn and his wife Sara Marie.

Training to be an artist

His father was against his becoming an artist, and he was first put to train in a business office; then as a compromise he was allowed to train with copperplate engraver, Georg Hoffmann. Here he learned to make vignettes, a skill which became useful to him later when he learned to make etchings.

He also got the opportunity to begin his training at the Royal Danish Academy of Art ("Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi") in 1836. He came into the School of Plaster Model Painting in 1840, and into the School of Model Painting in 1841, where he was influenced by the classicism of teacher Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, father of the Golden Age of Danish Painting. He was also influenced by Niels Lauritz Høyen, another teacher at the Academy, important art critic, and art historian who encouraged a unique Danish school of art.

He won the small silver medallion in 1843 for a figure drawing, but he was set on becoming a landscape painter. At about this time Danish landscapes began to become a serious subject matter for Danish artists. Kyhn became a part of this movements, and was able to exhibit his first landscape in 1843-- "Et bornholmsk Strandparti" ("A View of the Beach on Bornholm"), an area he had visited over a period of several years. This painting was purchased by the Danish Royal Painting Collection, now the Danish National Gallery ("Statens Museum for Kunst"), and later loaned to the Aarhus Museum of Art ("Aarhus kunstmuseum").

In 1845 Kyhn won a prize in the Neuhausen Competition ("Neuhausenske Konkurs") for "Landskab, hvori Foraaret karakteriseres" ("Spring Landscape").

tudent travel to foreign lands

After a few years of diligent work painting landscapes in Jutland and north Sjælland, he began to seek out a travel stipend; he was awarded one in 1848. He delayed, however, his travel until the spring of 1850 on account of the turbulent times around the European revolutions of 1848 which led to Denmark’s becoming a constitutional monarchy on June 5, 1849.

He traveled over the Netherlands and Belgium to Paris in the spring of 1850, and reached Italy in September of the same year. The following year he received an extension on his stipend. He painted few landscapes of the southern lands, and only during his foreign stay.

National romanticism in Denmark

Back in Denmark in June 1851 he returned quickly to painting direct studies from nature. The paintings which Niels Lauritz Høyen bought from Kyhn show good development in his style. His landscape painting ability continued to improve in the years to come, as exemplified by the winterscene, "Kystparti ved Taarbæk" ("View of Coast near Taarbæk") and "Udsigt over det flade Land ved Bjærgelide" ("View over the flat land near Bjærgelide") painted in 1858, which featured the typical Danish countryside near Horsens. The flat prairies of Jutland in the latter picture were not at the time a popular subject for depiction. He helped open the way for other artists to interpret this quintessential Danish landscape.

He was one of the powers behind the establishment of The Danish Etchers Union ("Den danske Radeerforening") in 1853. He married Pauline Petrine Leisner on September 11 of that same year.

As a nationalist artist ("blonde" artists as they were called) he was excluded from membership in the Academy, and could not sell his painting to The Art Union ("Kunstforeningen").

He taught at the both the School of Drawing and the School of Painting since the 1850’s.

His son, Svend Carl, was born in 1862. After 1863 he painted many scenes in the special light of Denmark’s late summer evenings. These include the atmospheric " Efter solnedgang i udkanten af en landsby" ("After Sunset on the Outskirts of a Village") painted in 1863 and "Sildig Sommeraften ved Himmelbjærget" ("Late Summer Evening near Himmelbjerget") painted in 1874. Both of these paintings are in the collection of the National Museum of Art.

He became a member of the Art Academy in 1870.

He painted many landscapes in the area near Silkeborg, and spent his summers starting in 1873 at Himmelbjerg, one of Denmark’s highest points. It was likely in this area that Kyhn began to experiment with painting in the open air, instead of painting in the studio as he had done previously and was customary.

He was a member of the Exhibition Committee at Charlottenborg 1873-1888, and of the Exhibition Committee for the World Exhibition in Paris 1877-1878. He traveled to Sweden in 1866 and 1874, to Norway 1873 and 1874, to Skagen in 1877.

During the period 1871-1879 Kyhn’s studio became a gathering place for a group of young, dissatisfied artists and Academy students called the "Huleakademiet" ("The Den"), which eventually led to the formation in 1882 of The Artists Studio Schools ("Kunstnernes Studieskoler").

During this same time he taught a number of women artists, also at the Academy’s School for Women. Among these was Anna Ancher.

Reaction to internationalism

In reaction and opposition to the growing internationalism affecting young Danish artists who were choosing to travel to France as part of their education, and to the affect of this French training on Danish art, Kyhn sent a work to Paris in 1876. The work was a defense of Danish national art and the Eckersberg school of painting. He traveled to Paris in 1878 where his work was exhibited at the World Exhibition.

His work was exhibited at the first international art exhibition in Vienna, Austria in 1882. Kyhn was selected as member of the Academy’s plenary assembly in 1887.

His son, Svend Carl, a promising landscape and interiors painter died in 1890. His wife died in 1894. He received the bronze medallion at the Paris Exhibition of 1900. He died in Frederiksberg on May 11, 1903 at the age of 84.

The fruits of a long life

Kyhn maintained a freshness of perspective. He portrayed a more naturalistic landscape than previously, one that was anchored in careful study and with an immediacy made possible through open air painting. He chose to feature and glorify the landscapes of his native land, exploring especially the countryside near his home in Jutland. He was influenced by the times, and could show that influence in his paintings, while still the national romanticism of his middle years was an anchor in his large production of landscapes. He influenced many younger artists.

He also made engravings.

He is featured in a portrait by P.S. Krøyer (1898).

Other Danish landscape painters of his generation were Johan Thomas Lundbye and P.C. Skovgaard.

References

* [http://www.kid.dk/ KID Kunst Index Danmark ("Art Index Denmark")]
* [http://runeberg.org/dbl/ Danish Biographical Encyclopedia ("Dansk biografisk Leksikion")]

See also

List of Danish painters