Anton Michelsen Christmas Spoon 1911 Partially gilded Silver

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Item number: 122657

Description: Anton Michelsen Christmas Spoon 1911. Partially gilded Silver

Motif: The Infant Christ / Jesusbarnet.
Designed by Gudmund Hentze

He was born in Næstved. When he was nine years old, the family moved to Copenhagen. He attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts 1893-1894 and the Zahrtmann School 1897-1898. In 1893-1894, he was part of the movement around the journal Taarnet, which advocated symbolism in art, primarily literature, led by the author Johannes Jørgensen. Hentze illustrated many books, including J.P. Jacobsen's novel Fru Marie Grubbe. Jacobsen's novel Fru Marie Grubbe and fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen. Andersen. His illustrative work was similar to that of his colleague Lorenz Frølich, but whereas Frølich was inspired by German and French artists, Hentze was primarily stylistically inspired by the English Pre-Raphaelites and A. Beardsly.

His works were frequently exhibited in the early 20th century, and he was a member of the artist group Den Frie Udstilling 1905-1928. He also exhibited at both Charlottenborg and the Museum of Decorative Arts.

In 1907, fellow artist Gerda Wegener had a portrait rejected by Charlottenborg's censorship committee. Outraged by this, Hentze wrote an article in Politiken on April 14, 1907. In it, he expressed his contempt for the "peasant painters", which was his term for the impressionist-inspired Danish nature painters such as Peter Hansen, Fritz Syberg and Johannes Larsen. In the post, he states that his own symbolist-inspired art is on a higher cultural level than the peasant painters, who he believed glorified "the lowest development" with their images of the Danish peasant landscape. In his rhetoric, he anticipated many of the ideas of Nazism very early on.

The discussion led to him becoming persona non grata in Danish art circles, and his view of art was regarded by most young artists as backward and reactionary.