Artists’ Collections and Echoes of the Past in the Present

Artists’ Collections and Echoes of the Past in the Present

The art collections of artists constitute a distinct sub-category of private collections. They can be seen as personal narratives that nourish the artists’ own practice and locate it in an art-historical framework – formed and tailored to fit the artists’ own idiosyncratic criteria. The objects in such collections are activated by the artists’ use of them, and resonate as echoes of the past in the present.

The purpose of this seminar is to explore the specific nature of several artists’ collections in order to discuss how image collections at a broader level have contributed to the development and transformation of the practice of artists and art historians over a period of 150 years.

Moving from Thorvaldsen’s storehouse of over 15,000 antiquities, contemporary paintings and lithographs, to Rodin’s copious collections of objects of every kind, then onto Asger Jorn’s untameable picture archive covers a vast range, but also provides a basis to ask some principal questions: Do artists’ collections challenge or contradict the canon of art collections  –  and can a collection ‘write’ art history. What happens when artists’ collections enter or form the basis of a museum, and a previously private narrative enters the public realm? How did the accelerating reproduction culture of the 20^th century affect the possibilities for juxtaposing and comparing visual material? And how can the afterlife of images be traced in an art practice that draws on a collection?

We look forward to welcoming art professionals, researchers, artists and others with an interest in the field to the seminar. Limited places.

The deadline for registration is November 7^th, 2018.

The day before the seminar there is a guided tour of the exhibition Echo Room. Thorvaldsen, Willumsen, Jorn, and Their Collections, curated by artist Christian Vind, at the J.F. Willumsen Museum in Frederikssund.

Curator at J.F. Willumsen’s Museum Anne Gregersen will talk about the exhibition, after which guests are invited to join us for snacks and a glass of sparkling wine.

The event is from 5 to 7 pm.