Dines Carlsen, American Impressionist Painter

Dines Carlsen, son of renowned artist Soren Emil Carlsen, painted sensitive, impressionistic still life depictions, portraits, and landscape series, especially of the American Southwest. Trained in the visual arts by his father, Dines Carlsen’s talent was evident early in his life; at the age of fourteen, the National Academy held an exhibition of his work, and in his eighteenth and twenty-second years of life, he was honored with the Julius Hallgarten Prize. Emblematic of other painters working in the American impressionist tradition, Carlsen’s work finds resonance with Richard J. Boyle’s assessment of the genre: “Despite the lively impressionist technique, a mood of quietness persists…” (Boyle 230). One may certainly find evidence of this “quietness” in this contemplative and masterful self-portrait.

(located at MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.)

Dines Carlsen’s varied oeuvre includes sensitive treatment of both domestic life and rich Southwestern landscapes. His subtle portraits typify impressionism and are enhanced with American sentiment; “American impressionism was always less robust than its French counterpart. It was more delicate and, in some cases more poetic…” (Boyle 214). In a sense, Carlsen brings impressionist “feeling” to the locus of American realism; as Donaldson Hoopes articulates:

American impressionism… has no real center. Unlike its French counterpart, the American impressionist painter rarely associated with groups… While impressionism undoubtedly added another facet to American art, at no time did it ever threaten to eclipse the central motive force of American art, namely, realism (Hoopes 8).


(located at MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.)

With impressionistic, painterly strokes, Carlsen’s quiet homage to his mother portrays the human figure awash in light. The central still life objects, grouped upon the table, dominate the foreground, and evoke the sense of the eternal; the relationship between the figure of the mother and the large white vase particularly suggests the sense of the transmutation of the fleeting human form as it is immortalized through art—here in the form of the white vase, and indeed in the portrait itself. Pondering the relationship between the otherworldly light cast about the figure of the mother, and the solid, unmovable quality of the still life objects, we find the overarching relationships within impressionism itself; quoting Fritz Novotny, “The watchword of impressionism is that light is something higher than matter, that light is freedom, matter captivity” (Boyle 229).

In the New York Times article “Art; American Impressionism Dazzles,” David L. Shirey comments upon Carlsen’s poignant use of still life objects: “Dines Carlsen creates a very personal form of impressionism in his still lifes of pitchers and bowls” (Shirey “Art”). In fact, the collection in MIR Gallery includes not only many of Carlsen’s quiet masterpieces, but also several of his original objects featured in many of his still lifes. For example, our collection includes the Chinese bronze piece featuring the body of a lion, immortalized in the painting Still Life with Chinese Vase.

Still Life with Chinese Vase
(www.artnet.com)

Chinese bronze
(located at MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.)

Samovor
(http://www.artnet.com/)


MIR Appraisal Services also has in its collection the glass bottles featured in such paintings as Samovar.

Carlsen's bottles
(Located at MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.)

Dines Carlsen, while he considered the stillness of the domestic scene and the contemplative life of its subjects, also fixed his gaze upon the grand, at times austere, landscape of the American Southwest.

(Located at MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.)

In Santa Prisca en La Tarda, which depicts the Santa Prisca and San Sebastian Church in Taxco, Mexico, we can witness the “representation and expression of an overall light and atmosphere” as central to Carlsen’s paintings, and as the “common concern” of the American impressionists in general (Boyle 229).


Santa Prisca en La Tarda
(Located at MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.)

Dines Carlsen’s soft focus centered about both the inner-realm of the human psyche, as in his striking self-portrait and in the portrait of his mother, and the vast landscapes of the Southwest.


In the seemingly divergent subject matter of domestic portraits and rather sublime landscape paintings, we may still recognize a common motif—the reflective, quiet life of the human interior as it confronts the outer realm; in this way, Dines Carlsen’s paintings can be characterized by what Boyle identifies as the central atmosphere of American impressionism: “The somewhat abstract and austere silence, the delicacy and nuance, the mood of isolation, of quiet musing…” (Boyle 230).

Jessica Savitz
MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.
307 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 308
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: (312) 814-8510


Note: MIR Gallery, an online division of MIR Art Appraisal Services, Inc., has an extensive collection of the works of Dines Carlsen, an American Master. To inquire about an item or our appraisal services, please email: mirgallery@aol.com or call (312) 814-8510.


WORKS CITED

http://www.artnet.com/

Boyle, Richard J. American Impressionism. New York: New York Graphic Society, Ltd., 1974.

Dearinger, David Bernard. Painting and Sculpture in the Collection of National Academy of Design. Manchester: Hudson Hills Press, 2004.

Hoopes, Donaldson F. The American Impressionists. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1972.

Restoration Reveals Rembrandt

A painting, entitled Portrait of Pastor Swalmius, currently residing in Antwerp’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts, was until recently thought to have been painted by a student of Rembrandt in 1631. It has recently been confirmed that the piece was created by the master himself. This revelation came after an extensive restoration project and years of speculation. A dark varnish accumulated over the years had disguised the stunning details of the painting and hidden the signature entirely. Once the painting was cleaned, it was confirmed by the Rembrandt Research Project as authentic. Interestingly, the signature and date are the same as Rembrandt’s A Polish Nobleman currently in the collection at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

This discovery is an interesting turn of events for Antwerp’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts. The value of the piece has understandably skyrocketed from an initial value of 1 million Euros (1.4 million dollars US) to a staggering value of 20 million Euros. It also means that Antwerp’s Royal Museum is tied with the Royal Museum in Brussels for the number of Rembrandts in their collection.

The provenance of the piece is almost as interesting as the piece itself. Owned by the brother of King Louis XIV of France, the piece passed through various important European collections before being sold to Antwerp’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts in 1886 for 200,000 francs. Because the varnish applied to the surface of the piece gradually darkened over time, experts were not able to determine the signature and other more subtle characteristics of the piece, officially designating it a piece from one of Rembrandt’s students in 1969. Only a donation from a private donor allowed the museum to restore the painting to its initial glory and recover its almost lost authorship.

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc. is fortunate enough to have a number of Rembrandt etchings in its collection. Ranging in size, they are all of religious subject matter, and each serve as a striking homage to events of the Old and New Testaments. One etching features Jesus being taken down from the cross. Arranged in a pyramid shape, the figures grapple towards the top of the cross in an effort to pull Jesus off of the cross and towards a resting place. Another is a depiction of David in prayer. Interestingly, the Biblical figure is situated in a Dutch interior, contemporizing the image and creating an interesting composition for modern viewers.

The latest discovery in Antwerp reinforces the great importance of properly maintaining and conserving a piece of art as well as encouraging collectors both public and private to get their neglected pieces properly restored. While a properly restored painting may not reveal a Rembrandt, it will definitely add to the beauty and value of your precious items. It will also help add to the longevity of the piece of art, preserving it for those who will inherit it in the future. MIR specializes in appraising artwork and, if need be, directing you toward competent professionals who can restore your paintings and antiques to their past glory.

Justin Bergquist
MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.
307 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 308
Chicago, IL 60606
(312) 814-8510

Works cited:
http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/32214/restoration-reveals-a-genuine-rembrandt-in-antwerp/

http://www.rocketnews.com/2009/08/clean-up-reveals-true-rembrandt/

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6742307.ece

Images:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6742307.ece

Olafur Eliasson: Inner Design and Metaphorical Form in "Remagine"

Goethe believed that architecture is “frozen music” (Fogg 808). Olafur Eliasson’s meditative work Remagine (2002) creates a fluid architecture, a nearly “musical,” harmonious movement of geometry. The work Remagine is showcased in the current Eliasson exhibition Take Your Time, which will be on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago until September 13, 2009.

Remagine (2002) www.olafureliasson.net/works /remagine

Projected rectangles and trapezoids, loosely representative of building structures, lead us to contemplate the nature of design itself, and the human inclination towards creation of form. Eliasson’s transient, projected figures become a touchstone for contemplating the mind’s relationship to creating form; in The Republic, Plato speaks to this notion of the contemplation of shapes and form as a path to deeper philosophical truths: “The knowledge at which geometry aims is knowledge of the eternal, and not of aught perishing and transient… Geometry will draw the soul towards truth, and create the spirit of philosophy…” (Plato 219). The exhibition’s title Take Your Time suggests a sense of ownership, not over time and space, but ownership in terms of the awareness of our own perceptions of time and space. As in Bachelard’s assessment of Diole’s Le Plus Beau Desert du Monde, “Here both time and space are under the domination of the image… The being-here is maintained by a being from elsewhere. Space, vast space, is the friend of being” (Bachelard 208).

In Remagine, seven spotlights project rectangles and trapezoids, in varying levels of brightness, upon the exhibition wall. Various shapes link and “hinge”; the simple association of two or more shapes create a sense of depth, suggesting three-dimensionality. Shapes appear and fade at different times for periods of eleven seconds, changing in light intensity. Borders surrounding the shapes brighten with increased light saturation in thin bands of blue, lavender and green. The shapes are “fit” to the exhibition wall—at times the angles of the shapes fit the borders of the wall—the piece changes in its manifestations in various museums. Participation is encouraged—space for the public is ample for sitting, moving about, exploring the room in general, and approaching the main wall. As Eliasson intends, “You are part of this construction” (Olafur); the viewer experiences Remagine intellectually and even physically-- as shapes come and go, they leave traces of form on the retinae. The “composition” of the piece includes the room, fellow viewers, and the sense data broadcasted by the surrounding exhibitions—residual optics in the viewer’s field of vision from passing through the nearly “Op Art” piece Room For One Color on the path to Remagine, the scent of reindeer moss from the piece Moss Wall in the next room, the echoes from the movement and speech of fellow museum patrons—the space in Remagine is understood in terms of the collective sense-data of the entire surrounding environment.

Remagine considers intensely simple shapes, such that the “materials” become metaphorical and suggestive. In Remagine, light—the most ephemeral—is projected upon the wall and becomes a “material” suggestive of matter, seemingly creating three-dimensional arrangements. The sense of the projected shapes, “built” from light, suggests the sculptural, such that the most metaphorical becomes the most substantive element of the piece, and, in this way, the work points to space and inner-space: “And may all matter achieve conquest of its space, its power of expansion over and beyond the surfaces by means of which a geometrician would like to define it… the invisible space that man can live in… surrounds him with countless presences” (Bachelard 203).

We see our own shadows sharpen upon the wall as we approach the projected shapes, and encounter a present day allegory of Plato’s cave, in which the representational nature of the shapes echoes a more fundamental reality: “They see only their shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave…” (Plato 205). Indeed, the projected light is derived from a more substantial source, and evokes Marsilio Ficino’s poetic idea that “light is the shadow of god” (Denning 4).

Eliasson envisages an attitude of “generosity” on the part of the visitor viewing his worls. Because Eliasson’s aim for the museum guest is to “see yourself seeing” (Olafur), he is asking for a self-conscious exploration and evaluation of the representational realm of the “cave”; through operating in a symbolic realm, we can evaluate our relationship to the world of reality, so that we “Grow accustomed to the sight of the upper world” (Plato 205-7).

The idea of “taking your time” implies a process in which claiming your time also means using your time to consider your own presence—in Eliasson’s words, “Your presence has consequences”—and evaluate the space surrounding you, such that “inner-space” and the outer world of form engage in vital relationships (Olafur). Sometimes the projected, overlapping shapes in Remagine suggest a multitude of places all held within the world of reality, or perhaps memories of places superimposed upon present spaces—the manner in which memory projects images upon the mind’s eye. In a sense, when we inhabit a room, we reside within the human mind, as the idea of form and construction is first built in our consciousness. The transparent quality of the images invokes the sense of the “ghosts of rooms”—spaces we inhabited in the past, memories of dwelling places.

The meaning of “taking one’s time” broadens to include claiming and analyzing one’s past relationships to form. Perhaps the title Remagine is meant to suggest a reconsideration and re-imagining of spaces, and to encourage daydreams about future spaces—to “re-imagine” space and time and our relationship to it. To take your time—to claim it as you would claim space— is to claim your ideals. The projected shapes suggest portals leading to past and future imaginings about spaces and an exploration into the inner-meaning we assign to images and space. There is a relationship between the inner-realm and the space in the world—our inner-designs potentially cast form upon the outer world.

Remagine considers the lofty and the mundane with equal reverence, and gestures towards, through simple shapes, the sanctity of the real world of form, buildings, objects, and people, while also suggesting the potentiality of spaces, rooms, design. By meditating upon the “rooms” the shapes evoke, one is reminded of the presence of simple, everyday spaces. How this present room becomes the world—“Slowly, immensity becomes a primal value, a primal, intimate value.” (Bachelard 195).

Witnessing Remagine can be a way to enter the “cave” and its world of representational forms as a means to re-enter the reality of forms with a heightened sense of sensitivity and personal responsibility. With this assessment and deepening of personal ideals, the enlightened observer brings her awareness to concerns within the realm of human society:

“In the world of knowledge the idea of good… is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right… this is the power upon which he would act rationally either in public or private life must have his eye fixed” (Plato 208).

We may approach the world with sensitivity and grace, recognizing that our “presence has consequences” (Olafur). In this manner, we may consider our surrounding environment with artistic sensitivity, and treat our personal art with utmost care, to protect our works with dignity and for posterity. With an attitude of reverence and with supreme skill, the experts at MIR Appraisal Services, Inc. extensively research fine art and personal property, providing in-depth analysis and consultation for your most prized works of art.

Jessica Savitz

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.

307 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 308

Chicago, IL 60601

Works Cited

1 Made

Bachelard, Gaston. The Poetics of Space, translated by Maria Jolas. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994.

Dening, Melita and Phillips, Osborne. The Sword and the Serpent. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Pree, 1988.

Fogg, Walter. One Thousand Sayings of History Presented as Pictures in Prose. New York: Gryphon Books, 1971.

Plato, The Republic and other Works, translated by B. Jowett. New York: Anchor Books, 1973.

Olafur Eliasson on Engaging the Viewer (video)

http://www.mcachicago.org/eliasson/videos.php?id=1

http://www.mcachicago.org/eliasson/

www.olafureliasson.net/ works/remagine