The Lifeboat is Taken through the Dunes 1883
michaelancher
statensmuseumforkunst
canvas
possibly oil pastel
oil painting
canvas
portrait reference
acrylic on canvas
underpainting
painting painterly
animal drawing portrait
portrait art
fine art portrait
digital portrait
Michael Ancher’s “The Lifeboat is Taken through the Dunes” (1883), a large oil painting, depicts a group of men, likely fishermen, in a snow-covered landscape, hauling a lifeboat through a sand dune. The scene showcases the harsh realities of life at sea, particularly the dangers that fishermen faced. The somber mood, conveyed through the muted color palette and the weighty subject matter, is indicative of Ancher’s signature style, which often focused on maritime life and everyday scenes. Located in SMK - Statens Museum for Kunst, this work exemplifies Ancher's keen observation of the human condition and the realities of working-class life.
Comments
The low, dark winter skies and densely filled picture plane deepens the sense of intense concentration, of heroic grandeur.The painting's compositionThe waves on the bluish-black ocean seem to force their way up into the snow-covered dunes which echo the tumbling waves by lifting up the lifeboat, prefiguring the launch of the boat and how it will break through the heavy surf. Two intersecting diagonals lead the fishermen through the dunes and out towards the vessels in distress. This movement eventually takes the spectator’s gaze back to the starting point: the shouting fisherman, cropped as in a photographic snapshot, making an appeal to someone outside the picture.A tale of the heroic fishermenWith this painting Michael Ancher continued his tale of the heroic fishermen of Skagen. An epic on a grand scale, the narrative opened with the question Will He Weather the Point, went on to a happy preliminary end, as it were, with A Crew is Rescued and was finally concluded in The Drowned Fisherman.A contemporary history paintingPreviously, history painting was a vehicle for the depiction of great and good deeds done by mythological heroes and men who made history. Common people only made an appearance as rank and file soldiers or in anonymous crowds. The works of Michael Ancher, however, represent the culmination of counteracting endeavours to place ordinary men as the main characters of contemporary history painting.
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Abrupt cropping, motifs reminiscent of documentaries, and snapshot-like effect – a photographic gaze – appear in many works in this room, particularly in this painting. Two intersecting diagonals lead the fishermen and the spectator through the dunes and out towards the ship in peril. The movement takes our gaze back to the starting point, the shouting fisherman. As in a photographic snapshot, he has been cropped, appealing to someone outside the image. History painting used to be a vehicle for depicting great and good deeds, presenting mythological heroes and history-makers as ideals. The common people were delegated to the parts of footsoldiers or anonymous crowds. Michael Ancher marks the culmination of an opposite endeavour: To insert common people as protagonists of a contemporary history painting.
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