Portræt af Vilhelm Kyhn 1898

Curator: Before us is P.S. Krøyer’s “Portræt af Vilhelm Kyhn,” an etching from 1898. The subject, Vilhelm Kyhn, was himself a notable Danish landscape painter. Editor: It has such a fleeting, almost ghostly quality. The lines are so delicate, creating a sense of the sitter fading into the paper. Curator: Exactly. The etching medium allows for a remarkable fineness of line, a kind of ephemeral realism, I think. Note the careful rendering of Kyhn’s features, balanced by the sketchier, almost unfinished areas. Semiotically, that unresolved nature speaks to the incompletion inherent in all portraits. Editor: For me, the beauty is in that etched line, a physical trace of the artist's hand at work. What kind of labor went into producing this? How many plates? What was the price for this during Krøyer's time? Also, his loose grasp of his brushes suggests an intimate knowledge of Kyhn. They surely shared an artistic life. Curator: Indeed. Krøyer's ability to suggest texture and form with such minimal means is remarkable. Look how the density of lines around the face creates volume and weight, whilst the beard seems almost to float. It is both a likeness and an interpretation. Editor: Perhaps that loose handling signifies a shift in artistic practices. As printing became more democratized, could Krøyer challenge older ideas of skill by embracing this less rigid and possibly faster mode of etching? What's being consumed versus being communicated? Curator: That’s a valuable point. And it underlines that it's a compelling dialogue about identity and representation within a burgeoning print culture. Editor: I agree. Looking at this makes me wonder about its historical materiality in Denmark in the 1890s. Curator: I am intrigued to know its audience at the time. Thanks to this discussion, the work has a deeper significance.