JOHANNES COLLIN

Art Nouveau Sculpture - 19th Century Plaster

1896

Sculpture representing the goddess Diana by Danish sculptor Jens Jacob Bregno (1877–1946), executed in plaster around 1920. This is a highly unusual model by the artist, and possibly...

In this neoclassical oil on canvas signed and dated “Otto Bache 1864”, the artist depicts Psyche standing with her back turned to the viewer beside a red draped table. Her hair is arranged in a tight knot, secured with a hairpin adorned with two large pearls. She holds a light drapery that covers her legs, while the rest of her body remains nude. With her head turned toward the right, she gazes downward toward the table, where a blue gown or drapery lies, the garment she is about to put on. Her softly illuminated profile emerges as she turns in the light falling from the upper left, creating a striking backlight that heightens the contrast along the contours of her body. On the richly red draped table before her rest her jewellery and, to her left, a large amphora-shaped jug and a tazza bowl. The light descending from above to the left defines the composition with sharp contrasts between brightness and shadow, revealing the delicate modelling of Psyche’s form and lending the scene a quiet sense of introspection and grace. Exhibited: Winkel & Magnussen October 1915 no. 5, ill. p. 5. Otto Bache was born in 1839 in Roskilde, Denmark, and died in 1927 in Copenhagen. At the age of only eleven he was admitted to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen where he studied drawing and painting under the supervision of artists such as Wilhelm Marstrand. His early training gave him a basis in the Danish “Golden Age” tradition of realism and naturalism, but he went on to travel and extend his horizons. In 1866 he received an Academy travel-scholarship and went to Paris, then Italy (1867–68). The influence of Paris is often noted: his palette became richer, his handling freer, his light stronger, and his subjects broader. Later in his career, from around 1887, he held the post as professor and on various occasions director of the Royal Danish Academy. Bache’s early work reflects his rigorous academic training: careful drawing, subdued palette and interest in genre scenes and rural life. After his travel in Paris and Italy he adopted a somewhat more robust handling of color and light, but still remained essentially realist and narrative in approach. He painted portraits, animal and hunting subjects, genre scenes, and large history-paintings depicting key moments from Danish history. In particular, during the 1880s and 1890s when he was commissioned to execute large history canvases for the Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle and similar institutions, depicting events such as the exploits of Danish soldiers...

Cloud study by a rocky coastline overlooking the sea. To the right of the composition stands a large maritime marker, while in the lower left a few ship masts emerge in the distance....

A graphite profile portrait drawing of a woman on paper by Johannes Collin (1873-1951), signed “Johannes Collin 98” and titled “Zigenerska”. This early and unusual work by Collin presents his interest in refined drawing and capturing character even at a modest scale. It dates from 1898, a formative moment for the artist when he was studying arts and stands out as a somewhat rare example of his graphic or drawing work rather than his better known small bronzes. Johannes Collin was born in 1873 in Skåne, south Sweden. After passing his matriculation at the Cathedral School in Lund in 1892, he studied at university in 1894–96 and then turned to art studies. From 1899 to 1901 he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, and from 1903 to 1905 he studied sculpture in Paris. Collin settled in Lund, Skåne and pursued a career as sculptor and poet. He died in 1951 in Lund. He was the son of a farmer and raised in the Skåne countryside. Early on he developed a sensitivity to form, figure, and expression, combining his sculptural ambitions with literary leanings (he later published a small volume of poetry). Collin appears to have had an individualistic personality: he moved in student and artistic circles in Lund, but also kept a modest, sometimes even eccentric public persona. In the mid-1930s, he increasingly turned to poetry and pared back his three-dimensional work. From his early years, he gradually developed into a sculptor working in bronze and patinated materials. Much of his work consists of small‐scale bronzes with an intensity of expression. One critic (in Kulturens yearbook) wrote of Collin that “the monumental is not in the work’s external dimensions but in the attitude … your small sculptures have an inner monumentality”. Collin exhibited his works in various venues: for example he took part in the Lund Exhibition (“Lundautställningen”) in 1907. Internationally, he showed works in Munich in 1909 and 1913, where his efforts were positively reviewed. A noteworthy retrospective or exhibition was held at the museum Kulturen in Lund, when a donation of Collin’s sculptures...

This large work of art molded during the early 1900's is signed by the artist. The winged bearded man is in good condition for its age, and on a solid wood structure. The sculpture...

Plaster sculpture, youth and old man, no signature

This Italian sculpture fits within the tradition of capturing feminine beauty in a romanticized manner, emphasizing elegance and emotional expression, it shows a woman in a serene or...

This woman bust is in Plaster. It is an Art Deco Sculpture, made circa 1930, in France. In a white color. In the Style of Jan and Joël MARTEL.