Henri Matisse, the “Wild man” of the avantgarde and possibly the greatest modern art innovator of the 20th century, is world famous. Less known is perhaps that Matisse taught students for three years between January 1908 and 1911. Many of these were from Sweden and Norway. Learn more about these Scandinavian painters in Paris.
The most famous Norwegian painters at the Academie Matisse were Henrik Sørensen, Jean Heiberg, Axel Revold and Per Krohg. Probably a total of almost 30 Scandinavian artists were students at the academy during this three-year period.
The teachings of Matisse consisted of still life, croquis and act painting, and the correction from French teacher was consistently radical. Value painting was to give way to flat color painting. Warm and cold color surfaces, usually strong and unrealistic, were juxtaposed and often framed by a marked contour line.
All Scandinavian students had different experiences, at different periods of their careers, and in turn with different standings today within the canon of modern art; Isaac Grünewald, an 18-year-old prodigy and favorite of Matisse, Mollie Faustman, a young female artist, who would go on to be a founding member of the Association of Swedish Artists, creating equal opportunities for women in art, and Alf Lundeby, a 40-year-old artist at the time of entering the Académie and already well established within Norway, whose palette and technique would be permanently changed by his experience in Paris.
Among the Norwegian Matisse students, Per Krogh was the painter with the closest connection to the French capital. The fact that as a young man he was recognized as a tango dancer on stages in several Nordic capitals further contributed to the impression of a gentleman out of the ordinary. It is also no secret that the young Krogh was so skilled at drawing that even as a child he illustrated his painter father Christian Krogh‘s articles in Kristiania’s (now Oslo’s) most respected newspapers.
In Paris, Matisse corrected two to three times a month, during which everyone stood around to receive their “final verdict”. Most was technically permissible, but not all innovations benefitted the overall impression. The painterly result never became completely abstract but gained an expressive character that initially attracted attention and criticism.
Henri Matisse had originally moved to Paris to study law and it was through the Académie Libere system that he developed as an artist. The Académie Julian was the first to be established, in 1868 (particularly important to female painters, who were not accepted to France’s Académie des beaux Artes until 1897). Matisse was admitted as a student in 1891, where he was taught by Gustave Moreau. From here he moved on to the Académie Carière, where he met André Derain and in turn Maurice de Vlamink, two strong influences on his work. It wasn’t until 1904, with the support and foresight of the dealer Ambrose Vollard, that Matisse had his first solo show. Then the famous Salon d’Automne in 1905, where Matisse became the figurehead of a group that would be dubbed ‘les fauves’ (wild beasts).
“In Norway, Per Krogh was convincing as the elegant, modern city person. In the French environment, his sailor’s waltzes on the accordion were slightly exotic, and the drooping side braid, which in Kristiania was considered extremely phat, was in Paris considered as a real typical Viking hairstyle,” explains art historian Trygve Nergaard in his book “Bilder av Per Krogh» (Pictures of Per Krogh).
Henrik Sørensen received enormous attention for his painting “Svartbekken”, which was to be called the world’s first expressionist painting by art critic Roger Fry. This was the prelude, the “Matissians” or the “Parisians” as they were called, and marked the modernist breakthrough in Norway.
It was Matisse’s critiques that were the most daunting for his students, and he is recorded as being stern and limited with his praise. In 1908 Matisse published his article, Notes d’un peintre, where he articulated his seeming contradiction between freedom and tradition within his artistic practice and explained that his plea for a pursuit of expression, l’expression, could be misinterpreted as a plea for complete freedom in artistic expressions. It was his ability to articulate his artistic ideas so eruditely that would be so influential on his students, even over a short time, opening the eyes of so many.
His article spread within Nordic circles and along with those first artists that had started at the foundation of the academy, in particular Swedish Carl Palme, who enticed many to join the Académie’s ranks.
Scandinavian Painters in Paris, written by Tor Kjolberg
Feature image (on top): Painting by Per Krogh in Town Hall, Oslo.