Hans Fredrik Gude (March 13, 1825 - August 17, 1903) was a Norwegian romanticist painter and is considered along with Johan Christian Dahl to be one of Norway's foremost landscape painters.
He has been called a mainstay of Norwegian National Romanticism.
He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting.
Gude's artistic career was not one marked with drastic change and revolution, but was instead a steady progression that slowly reacted to general trends in the artistic world.
Gude's early works are of idyllic, sun-drenched Norwegian landscapes which present a romantic, yet still realistic view of his country.
Around 1860 Gude began painting seascapes and other coastal subjects.
Gude had difficulty with figure drawing initially and so collaborated with Adolph Tidemand in some of his painting, drawing the landscape himself and allowing Tidemand to paint the figures.
Later Gude would work specifically on his figures while at Karlsruhe, and so began populating his paintings with them.
Gude initially painted primarily with oils in a studio, basing his works on studies he had done earlier in the field.
However, as Gude matured as a painter he began to paint en plein air and espoused the merits of doing so to his students.
Gude would paint with watercolors later in life as well as gouache in an effort to keep his art constantly fresh and evolving, and although these were never as well received by the public as his oil paintings, his fellow artists greatly admired them.
Gude spent forty-five years as an art professor and so he played an important role in the development of Norwegian art by acting as a mentor to three generations of Norwegian artists.
Young Norwegian artists flocked to wherever Gude was teaching, first at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf and later at the School of Art in Karlsruhe.
Gude also served as a professor at the Berlin Academy of Art from 1880-1901, although he attracted few Norwegians to the Berlin Academy because by this time Berlin had been surpassed in prestige in the eyes of young Norwegian artists by Paris.
Over the course of his lifetime Gude won numerous medals, was inducted as an honorary member into many art academies, and was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav.
He was the father of painter Nils Gude and watercolorist and illustrator Agnes Charlotte Guide.
His daughter Sigrid married German sculptor Otto Lessing.
Norwegian or German art
By the mid-19th century the academy in Düsseldorf had become a center for training Norwegian artists, but within Norway there arose a debate as to whether the art was truly Norwegian as it did not originate in Norway, and was in fact produced by artists who had been trained in Germany.
The debate was sparked by proposals to build an art school in Norway, and it was therefore essential for supporters of a Norwegian academy to argue that Norwegian values could not be instilled in the artists if they had to go abroad.
In a letter to Jørgen Moe Gude writes that he see possibility for his own development in Düsseldorf, and that even if it would cause him to be known as a German artist instead of a Norwegian, he would not be ashamed of the fact.
In defense of Norwegian artists at the academy, Gude writes that they were not simply imitating German artists:
"If we learn something from Achenbach and Lessing, it is certainly not to our detriment; no one has ever said about me or Tidemand or, so far as I know, any of us Norwegian Düsseldorfers that we copy and imitate" - Hans Gude.
Gude was convinced that for Norwegian artists at the academy it was impossible to escape their heritage and that Norway influenced their art whether they wanted it to or not.
On this subject he wrote:
[...] "and you, my compatriots in Norway, have no grounds for complaining that we have forgotten the dear, familiar and specific character with which God has endowed our land and our nation. That is so firmly entrenched in our being that it finds expression, whether we like it or not. Do not, therefore, insult us further with such [an accusation]; it hurts our feelings, and thereby proves how unfounded it is, for otherwise it would be easy to treat it with indifference" - Hans Gude.
Von Schadow however argued the Gude's art was in fact German in an attempt to defend his nomination of Gude to succeed Schirmer.
He wrote of Gude that "His education is totally German, his style unwontedly elevated".
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, Christianiaford 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;
Gude was also a member of the Order of the Zähringer Lion, Order of the Red Eagle, and the Order of Franz Joseph. | Source: © Wikipedia
Hans Fredrik Gude (13 marzo 1825 - 17 agosto 1903) è stato un pittore romantico Norvegese ed è considerato, insieme a Johan Christian Dahl, uno dei più importanti pittori di paesaggi norvegesi.
È stato definito un pilastro del romanticismo nazionale norvegese.
È associato alla scuola di pittura di Düsseldorf.
La carriera artistica di Gude non è stata contrassegnata da drastici cambiamenti e rivoluzioni, ma è stata invece una progressione costante che ha reagito lentamente alle tendenze generali del mondo artistico.
I primi lavori di Gude sono di paesaggi norvegesi idilliaci e assolati che presentano una visione romantica, ma ancora realistica del suo paese.
Intorno al 1860 Gude iniziò a dipingere paesaggi marini ed altri soggetti costieri.
Gude inizialmente ha avuto difficoltà con il disegno di figure e così ha collaborato con Adolph Tidemand in alcuni dei suoi dipinti, disegnando lui stesso il paesaggio e permettendo a Tidemand di dipingere le figure.
Più tardi Gude avrebbe lavorato specificamente sulle sue figure mentre era a Karlsruhe, e così iniziò a popolare i suoi dipinti con esse.
Gude inizialmente dipinse principalmente con oli in uno studio, basando i suoi lavori su studi che aveva fatto in precedenza sul campo.
Tuttavia, quando Gude maturò come pittore, iniziò a dipingere en plein air e ne espose i meriti ai suoi studenti.
Gude avrebbe dipinto con acquerelli più tardi nella vita così come gouache nel tentativo di mantenere la sua arte costantemente fresca e in evoluzione, e sebbene questi non siano mai stati accolti così bene dal pubblico come i suoi dipinti ad olio, i suoi colleghi artisti li ammiravano molto.
Gude ha trascorso quarantacinque anni come professore d'arte e quindi ha svolto un ruolo importante nello sviluppo dell'arte norvegese fungendo da mentore per tre generazioni di artisti norvegesi.
I giovani artisti norvegesi accorrevano ovunque Gude insegnasse, prima all'Accademia d'Arte di Düsseldorf e poi alla Scuola d'Arte di Karlsruhe.
Gude fu anche professore all'Accademia d'Arte di Berlino dal 1880 al 1901, anche se attirò pochi norvegesi all'Accademia di Berlino perché a quel tempo Berlino era stata superata in prestigio agli occhi dei giovani artisti norvegesi da Parigi.
Nel corso della sua vita Gude ha vinto numerose medaglie, è stato inserito come membro onorario in molte accademie d'arte ed è stato insignito della Gran Croce dell'Ordine di Sant'Olav.
Era il padre del pittore Nils Gude e dell'acquarellista ed illustratrice Agnes Charlotte Guide. Sua figlia Sigrid sposò lo scultore tedesco Otto Lessing. | Fonte: © British Wikipedia
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