With A Hint Of The Devil's Hand
Valdemar Andersen, Johannes V. Jensen, 1905. Privately owned. Photo: Niels C.B. Larsen.
Johannes V. Jensen was a very young man experimenting with journalism and poetry alike at the time his portrait above was created. He was about to launch his own US-inspired daily along with a collection of poems brimming with the intent of uprooting everything and everyone who came before.
His self-esteem was at its highest and so was his equally young cartoonist friend's readiness to experiment in the classical genres of painting and portraiture and get it exhibited as one of 1906's debutants at The Royal Academy in Copenhagen. The portrait was indeed reviewed as having a hint of the devil's hand to it and time has proved the reviewer right. For one thing, it has hardly been photographed in the 115 years since its creation. It is a devil to photograph.
It is a gouache and behind glass, the very same glass since it was painted and when it was time to photograph it for the book Tegner af Tiden, we realised why it has been so poorly shown till now. Its first photographer, Peter Elfelt, had reflections on both sides of Johannes V. Jensen. Through the years graphic artists would cut the image to both sides when printing it, leaving Johannes V. Jensen as if in a straitjacket. Presenting snipped art works is a deadly sin in art history and all more so when the reason is to give it a neater appearance. The work, however, is privately owned so nobody knew.
Niels is never one for giving up. He will find a solution. Every photographic setting was tried indoors, but the glass has a slight curve to it and would catch every professional measure to even out the light. Eventually we tried outdoors. It was a rainy day and we all ventured out between showers. The greyish light with its evenly distributed light through the clouds turned out to be the perfect solution.
This was the situation shown below. I was holding the work with everyone in front of me. The dim grey line at the bottom of the photo is a blanket held out to catch any remaining hint of reflection. It was one of the absolute highlights of making Valdemar's book. The busy energy of the scene with the wit flowing. I forgot the insane reality of my holding the very portrait.
Photo: Niels C.B. Larsen.
The photo above divides itself into two parts and accentuates an artwork living in its own world.
Everything is playfully overdone in the portrait, which is what makes it so compelling. The detailing drawn in with lead is contrasted by the thick splotches in two tones of his skin tone. The white highlights are not shy of being highlights just as its sitter was turning his written words to the max.
The collar beneath his face is left in the raw.
Valdemar Andersen, Detail of the portrait of Johannes V. Jensen, 1905. Privately owned. Photo: Niels C.B. Larsen.
