Christen Kobke (1810-1848): exhibition

This project will result in an exhibition and accompanying catalogue/book for public consumption at two prestigious venues in 2010: the National Gallery, London, and the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh. It will showcase the work of the painter Christen Schjellerup Kobke, revered as the greatest talent of Denmark's celebrated 'Golden Age' (c.1800-1850). This period and ethos, also embodied in the works of Soren Kierkegaard and Hans Christian Anderson, has long been regarded as encompassing the nation's greatest cultural, intellectual and scientific flowering, Kobke's work, displayed and analyzed thematically, will be contextualised for a mass audience within these contingent societal influences, whilst also giving due weight to the artist's role in reciprocally shaping and informing Golden Age concerns and tastes. Alternatively known as 'The Age of Kobke', this mark of esteem illustrates the importance attached to his output and its part in determining a distinctly Danish cultural identity. In terms of the aesthetics of Danish visual arts of this period, this project will also give close scrutiny to an examination of the progressively experimental and 'modern' nature of Kobke's practices, particularly his regime of outdoor sketching and a fascination for painterly spontaneity and immediacy that set his work apart from that of his contemporaries and has seen his infuence proliferate into the Modern and Contemporary periods.