Came across a review in Times Online where the critic goes on about Hammershois repetitiveness of gray and somber tones in all of his paintings, like, where is the color, why so depressing etc.
Back in 1998, the NYC Guggenheim Museum had a showing of Hammershois work and I remembered liking them. I thought of “I Remember Mama” – Edward Grieg’s music was used for the 1950’s TV show (not Danish but Norwegian, close) and “Dagmar” (Robin Morgan who I met while working at N.Y.P.L.) the little girl that everyone seemed to love. It was a ritual, our family and sometimes our neighbors would join us to watch this program, which was about a family that on the surface looked to be very different from ours. I don’t remember any of the story lines, but what Hammershois paintings did was to recall for me something that our family did and enjoyed doing together.
Go see art, listen to music, watch dance and make up your own mind. Don’t let some one decide for you what is not worth seeing.
The Hammershoi exhibit got some unfavorable reviews at the time and it would have been a shame to have paid attention to them and missed out on memories that the show brought up.
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I remember the Hammershoi exhibit very well. It actually was one of the most impactful shows that I had seen of an artist who, until that point, I had never heard of. I actually used it extensively as reference material for a film that I shot. A lot of thoughts come to mind when critics harp on repetitiveness. When I was very very young I did a painting of a dancer that I loved very much. So much that I wanted to paint another but then was concerned of repeating myself. It was at this point that my parents introduced me to Degas.
On a similar note, feedback that I have received regarding my Cinematography reel is producers do not like to watch “montage” reels but prefer clips that show several scenes from one film to show your clarity of artistic vision and ability to light/compose consistently. In other words, your ability to replicate a look and mood.
What spectacular paintings! I wish I could see a current exhibitions of his paintings at the http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/hammershoi/