8 February – 14 June
Astrid Holm & Co. With contributions from the contemporary artists Augusta Atla, Åsa Cederqvist, Jeannette Ehlers, Helene Nymann and Mette Winckelmann.
Rønnebæksholm is proud to present the exhibition Astrid Holm & Co. The exhibition is a collaboration with Øregaard Museum and Hanne Abildgaard, Mag.Art (Art History). It features work by Astrid Holm (DK), a student of Matisse, and works by her closest female artist colleagues: Ebba Carstensen (DK), Vera Nilsson (SE) and Júlíana Sveinsdóttir (IS). With Holm as a driving force, the will and vision of these four artists helped define Modernism in the first half of the 20th century.
Rønnebæksholm Art Gallery will animate the themes and relevant issues explored in the exhibition by incorporating a programme of contemporary art, featuring work by Augusta Atla(DK), Åsa Cederqvist(SE), Jeannette Ehlers(DK), Helene Nymann(DK) and Mette Winckelmann(DK).
The exhibition spotlights the painter, Astrid Holm (1876-1937) who was a significant figure in the Danish art world of the 1910s and 1920s, but sadly forgotten after her death. This was not due to any lack of talent, but to structural and artistic-political conditions. Hanne Abildgaard, Mag.Art. grants Astrid Holm pride of place in this first-ever research-based exhibition and book project about the artist. The project is all about Astrid Holm and the opportunities and strategies she and her close female colleagues developed in Denmark from 1910 to 1940: colleagues that included Ebba Carstensen (Denmark), Júlíana Sveinsdóttir (Iceland) and Vera Nilsson (Sweden).
Based on the history of Rønnebæksholm and the interest in the dynamics between Astrid Holm and Co. and contemporary art, Rønnebæksholm is incorporating contributions by five contemporary artists. By doing so, Rønnebæksholm will shed even more light on Holm and her circle, enhancing our understanding of their work and helping to integrate their work into our time.
Lotte Juul Petersen (Director of Rønnebæksholm) explains:
“Rønnebæksholm will continue to collaborate and make every effort to reinstate female artists neglected by the history of art, and actively contemplate the consequences this has vis-à-vis our common cultural self-understanding. To ensure equality in the art world in the future, it is essential to grant space and ‘airtime’ to a diversity of voices, thereby adding and investing our society with greater quality and richness.”
Another motivation is the fact that the gender equality setback on the exhibition front, which was a condition for this generation of female artists (Astrid Holm and her colleagues), is not sufficiently acknowledged; and that the consequences for the artists’ careers, for the development of new strategies and for their place in the history of art, have in no way been explored. The goal of the exhibition, Astrid Holm & Co. and the contributions of the contemporary artists is to carve a place for women Modernists in art history, shedding light on, and contemplating (art) history in a current context.
Funding from foundations
The research element of the project is supported by the Augustinus Foundation, Beckett-Fonden and the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The exhibition and the publication of the book are supported by Beckett-Fonden, 15. Juni Fonden, Knud Højgaards Fond, Lemvigh-Müller Fonden and Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond. The book has also received separate funding from the New Carlsberg Foundation. The contemporary art programme is supported by Dansk Tennis Fonden, the Danish Arts Foundation, Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond, Beckett Fonden, Trelleborg Fonden – i samarbejde med Sydbank and Fonden af 28. Februar til Støtte For Kulturelle Formål
Thanks to:
Øregaard Museum and Hanne Abildgaard, Mag.Art (Art History). A warm thank you to the contemporary artists we have invited to take part in the exhibition: Augusta Atla, Åsa Cederqvist, Jeannette Ehlers, Helene Nymann and Mette Winckelmann.
We would also like to express our heartfelt gratitude to: the National Gallery of Denmark; Fuglsang Art Museum; Brandts – Museum of Art and Visual Culture; Skive Museum (Museum Salling); ARoS; the Museum of Southern Jutland; MSJ Art Museum in Tønder; Kunsten Museum of Modern Art; Malmö Art Museum; Gothenburg Art Museum; Norrköping Art Museum; Hälsinglands Museum; Moderna Museet Stockholm; Odsherreds Art Museum Malergården; and all the individuals who have so kindly loaned works for the exhibition.
