JULIUS PAULSEN

(Danish, 1860 - 1940)

SELF PORTRAIT

Oil on Canvas

21½ x 18 Inches

Initialed Lower Left, 'J. P.'

 

Julius Paulsen first studied at Denmark's Royal Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 1882. The recipient of numerous scholarships, including the 1883 Hielmstierne-Rosencrone Prize, Paulsen traveled and painted extensively throughout Europe. In 1885, he visited the Netherlands, France and Belgium where he sought out and studied the works of Rembrandt. In 1888, his travels took him to Italy and, in 1912, to Spain. Trips in 1909 and 1922 brought Paulsen back to Paris, where he was first exposed to the contemporary ferment of Modernist art ideas. These led him to both lighten his palette and to seek more subjective and emotional forms of expression.

 

Over the course of a long and distinguished career, Paulsen exhibited widely and with success, including at the Paris Salons (1885, 1925), Chicago (1893), Germany (1891, 1909), and London (1907). He exhibited at the Paris World Expositions of 1889 and 1900, and, also, regularly and for many years, at the Charlottenborg Palace.

 

Julius Paulsen's evolving style bore, successively, the influence of Realism, Symbolism and Impressionism but he was also inspired by the serenity and introspection of Dutch 17th-century art as evidenced in his 1902 painting, 'Portrait Group', now in the Skagens Museum. He was associated with several of the Skagen Painters who gathered each summer in the north of Jutland but he did not visit Skagen itself until after 1900. While there, he painted several portraits of his friend, the artist Laurits Tuxen and his family as well as a number of semi-abstract landscapes.

 

In 1908, Paulsen was appointed professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen and served continuously in this position until 1921. His works may be found in the permanent public collections of Denmark's state museums, including the Aarhus Art Museum, the Gothenburg Art Museum, the State Museum for Art, Randers Art Museum and the Skagens Museum. Paulsen's portrait of his friend, the Impressionist painter P.S. Kroyer, still hangs in the Museum of National History in Frederiksborg Palace. Julius Paulsen is listed in all relevant art-reference works including Benezit and Thieme-Becker.

 

Reference:

E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Jacques Busse, 1999 Nouvelle Édition, Gründ 1911, Vol. 10, p. 648; Vollmer Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler des 20. Jarhhunderts, Hans Vollmer, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 1992, Vol. 3, p. 556; Weilbach, Dansk Kunstnerleksikon, the Castle and Cultural Agency, Copenhagen; Davenport’s Art Reference and Price Guide 2009/10 Edition, LTB Gordonsart, Inc. 2008, p. 1810; F. Beckett i: Ill. Tid., 1897-98, 511-14; E. Hannover i: Kunstbl., 1898, 123; Karl Madsen i: Tilskueren, 1898, 289-303; Det ny Aarh., VI, 1909, 951-58; Leo Swane i: Ill. Tid., 1909-10, 36f; N.V. Dorph i: Gads da. Mag., 1909-10, 69- 77; V. Jastrau: J.P. (smaa Kunstbøger, nr. 12), 1915; Sig. Müller i: Gads da. Mag., 1915-16, 179-83; Mogens Gad i: Samleren, 1930, 145-58; Sig. Schultz i: Da. i Paris, II, 1938; Knud Voss: Skagensmalerne, 1975; Hanne Honnens de Lichtenberg: Zahrtmanns Sk., 1979; Frans Lasson (red.): Sophus Claussen og hans kreds, I-II, 1984; Leila Krogh: Løvens breve, 1987; Erik Mortensen: Kunstkritikkens og kunstopfattelsens hist. i Danm., 1990; Bente Scavenius: Den frie Udst. i 100 år, 1991; et al.