Everything about Hans Gude totally explained
Hans Fredrik Gude (
March 13 1825 Later Gude would work specifically on his figures while at Karlsruhe, and so began populating his paintings with them.
Early life
Gude was born in
Christiania in 1825 the son of Ove Gude, a
judge, and Marie Elisabeth Brandt.
| artist=Hans Gude
| year=1863
| type=
Oil on canvas
| height=41.5
| width=55.5
| city=
Oslo
| museum=
National Gallery of Norway}}
Many of Gude's peers moved on from the Academy in Düsseldorf to other art institutes, but Gude decided to seek more direct contact with nature.
| artist=Hans Gude
| year=1868
| type=
Oil on canvas
| height=145
| width=208
| city=
| museum=Private Collection}}
In December of 1863 Gude was offered and accepted a professorship at the
Baden School of Art in
Karlsruhe where he'd once again succeed Schirmer, and so he left Wales.
Gude was hesitant to take the position as he felt that it was working for the enemy but was unable to support himself in Norway due to the lack of an art school.
He wrote about his thoughts on the position to Kjerulf, stating:
At this time I feel oppressively and profoundly what it means to float about the world without a mother country – now I've obtained a post, and shall serve to the best of my powers the country that may shortly be at open war with my own native land; I'll express no sympathies and be deaf to what goes on beyond the walls of my own studio; that which makes hearts at home beat faster won't exist for me; and how offensive and unbearable it'll be to watch the enthusiasm displayed around me for the rights of a German nationality, while my own nation perhaps bleeds to death in a struggle for existence. On the other hand, how serious my commitments are to my wife and children; and I'll use my talents where I'm permitted to – at home I can make no use of them, and in two to three years I'd come to the end of my career and sink into deep misery with all my children – I'm sure of that. |
It is suspected that Gude was offered the professorship due to a recommendation from Lessing.
When Gude accepted the position at Karlsruhe the flow of Norwegian painters to the Düsseldorf Academy redirected Karlsruhe, which would produce many of the Norwegian painters of the 1860s and 1870s, among them
Frederik Collett,
Johan Martin Nielssen,
Kitty L. Kielland,
Nicolai Ulfsten,
Eilif Peterssen,
Marcus Grønvold,
Otto Sinding,
Christian Krohg and
Frits Thaulow.
In Karlsruhe Gude continued to faithfully reproduce the landscapes he saw, a style that he passed on to his students by taking them to
Chiemsee to paint the lake
en plein air.
While on these trips Gude and his pupils often encountered
Eduard Schleich der Ältere with his own students from
Munich who were, as Gude described, only out to capture the mood of the scene and were skeptical of the advantages of painting in the sunshine.
Gude also took special interest in how light reflected in water while in Karlsruhe, as well as expanding his study of the human figure.
Although Gude rarely portrayed humans for their own sake, he began populating his paintings with convincing, if sometimes anatomically incorrect, individuals.
Gude's painted
Fra Chiemsee while at Karlsruhe.
The painting which was shown in
Vienna was so enthusiastically received that it was purchased by the
Kunsthistorisches Hofmuseum for display, won Gude a number of medals, and earned him membership in the
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
The school in Karlsruhe was founded by the
Grand Duke of Baden whom Gude had good relations with.
Because of this fact Gude received better pay than at the Düsseldorf Academy, had spacious and rent-free accommodations and was given generous periods of leave which allowed him to travel in the summer to perform studies for future paintings.
Gude served as the director of Karlsruhe from 1866-1868 and again from 1869-1870, where he introduced several of his own educational principles designed to develop pupil's individual talent.
But Gude's reign as director at Karlsruhe wasn't without resistance to his methods, and it's this opposition that he cites as his reason for visiting the
Berlin Academy of Art that as early as 1874 in search of better conditions.
Because of Gude's visits to Berlin, his relation with the Grand Duke became strained as the Grand Duke felt that the concessions he'd made to Gude were so great that Gude should be grateful and not look for a professorships elsewhere.
Gude remained at Karlsruhe for six more years after his first visits to the Berlin Academy of Art, but in 1880 he decided to retire from the Karlsruhe school to take up a position in Berlin.
Berlin Academy of Art
In 1880 Gude accepted a position to lead the master studio in landscape painting at the Academy of Art in Berlin, a position which gave him a spot on the Academy's Senate.
The Senate was responsible for upholding "all the artistic interests of the state" and membership was a mark of the highest official recognition of Gude's work.
In 1895 the Christiania Art Society held a comprehensive retrospective of Gude's works including his paintings, oil studies, watercolors, sketches and etchings.
When asked what should be shown at the exhibition Gude replied that "[...]perhaps room could be found for studies and drawings; I rather think that these will meet with interest. They are also (unfortunately) of greater artistic value."
By the time of the exhibition Gude had abandoned his previous style of painting large-scale compositions based on studies, and was working in mediums other than oil.
In Berlin Gude began working more heavily in
gouache and
watercolor in an effort to preserve the 'freshness' of his art.
Although Gude didn't heavily exhibit his watercolors they still gained admiration from follow painters, including
Harriet Backer who said:
I believe that if Gude exhibited watercolours and study drawings, he'd have the warmest admirers among painters. [...] Let it rather happen now, while there can be controversy and a row and some lively discussion about his art[...]. |
Gude would spend a few weeks each summer near the
Baltic coast where he drew material for numerous paintings of
Ahlbeck and
Rügen.
Although Gude filled these paintings with more figures than his earlier works, his focus was still on accurately capturing the scene and especially the landscape.
As the century drew to a close the established art academies faced 'secession' movements from groups of artists looking to branch of into different style.
Gude rallied around his friend
Anton von Werner in defending the academies, going so far as to
mock "the so-called
Symbolism" movement.
As Gude approached the end of his life he felt more and more unable to keep up with the changes in the art world.
After a disappointing exhibition in
Kristiania in 1902 Gude wrote to
Johan Martin Nielssen:
All I've heard about it [theexhibition] are your and [[Wilhelm Holter |
In 1880 Gude had between five and eight students, but this number had shrunk to two or three by 1890.
In part this reduction of pupils was due to a lack of interest in the Berlin academy, as explained to Gude by
Prince Eugén, Duke of Närke who wrote that he, as well as numerous other young artists, had more of a taste for French art than German.
Gude retired from the Berlin Academy in 1901.
He died two years later in Berlin in 1903.
Awards and honors
- 1852 — Gold medal at Berlin Exhibition
- 1855 — Medal, 2nd class, Paris Exhibition
- 1860 — Gold medal at Berlin Exhibition
- 1861 — Medal, 2nd class, Paris Exhibition
- 1867 — Medal, 2nd class, Paris Exhibition
- 1873 — Gold medal at Vienna Exhibition for Nødhavn Ved Norskekysten
- 1876 — Medal for A Fresh Breeze, Norwegian Coast and Calm, Chrstianiaford in Philadelphia at United States Centennial Commission International Exhibition
- 1880 — Member of Berlin Academy of Art's Senate
- 1894 — Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav
Academy memberships
Gude earned membership in the following art academies:
AmsterdamList of paintings
Further Information
Get more info on 'Hans Gude'.
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