Into the Landscape
June 3 – October 7, 2007
Preus Museum
Kulturparken Karljohansvern
Kommandorkaptein Klincks vei 7
Pb. 254 NO-254 3192 Horten
The exhibition Into the Landscape looks at the genre of landscape, from the 19th century voyage pittoresque to aerial photography, from the postcard to contemporary conceptual landscape pictures. On display are over 100 works by professional and amateur photographers, researchers and artists from other disciplines. With ten international and thirteen national contributors, the exhibition offers a unique opportunity to go Into the Landscape.
The exhibition aims to show the breadth of the tradition of landscape depiction and how our ways of viewing the landscape are conditioned by our culture and interests. In the history of art in Norway, the landscape genre holds a strong position thanks to its associations with national romanticism and Norwegian identity. In many ways, this national gaze dominates our approach to other types of landscape depiction and to the real landscape that surrounds us. This exhibition seeks to expand and challenge this somewhat restricted gaze and to show the diversity of the Norwegian and international landscape tradition.
The exhibition starts out with the distinction between the romantic landscape painting and the more neutral and descriptive vista painting, two different tracks which it follows through to the present. Whereas the romantic landscape has been nurtured in a big way by the tourist industry, the more documentational, vista-type landscape has been dominant in contemporary photography. Pictures of towns, cultivated landscapes and industrial wastelands help to put the magnificence of unspoilt nature in perspective. In addition, we find artists and photographers who engage in dialogue with these traditions, deconstructing what landscape means to them personally, or exposing the consequences of society’s actions by means of striking constructed images.
The exhibition is produced by Preus museum and has been compiled from material in the museum’s own collection, together with loans from artists, private collectors and institutions including the National Library of Norway; Norsk Industriarbeidermuseum; Drammen Museum; SK Stiftung Kultur/Die Photographische Sammlung — August Sander Archive; and Collection C.F.D.R., Paris, provenance gb agency, Paris. Normanns Kunstforlag and Fjellanger Wideroe Foto AS have also contributed pictures.
Artists in the exhibition: Per Berntsen (N 1953-), Elina Brotherus (FIN 1972-), Hans Peter Chr. Dahm (N 1787-1844), Ilkka Halso (FIN 1965 -), the brothers Paul and Prosper Henry (F 1848-1905/1849-1903), Axel Hütte (D 1951-), Anders Kjaer (N 1940-), Halvard Kjaervik (N 1946-), Axel Lindahl (S 1841-96), Bard Loken (N 1964-), Léonard Misonne (B 1870-1943), Raymond Mosken (N 1957-), Ragnar Mork (N 1906-2002), Normanns Kunstforlag (N), Jorma Puranen (FIN 1951-), Ed Ruscha (USA 1937-), August Sander (D 1876-1964), Mari Slaattelid (N 1960-), Stiftelsen Norsk Landskap, Per Olav Torgnesskar (N 1966-), Underwood & Underwood (USA), Fjellanger Wideroe (N) and Rolf M. Aagaard (N 1945-).
For more information, contact conservator Hanne Holm-Johnsen, +47 33 03 16 30 / +47 91 85 03 03
