Minnas Nakke – et Forup Tema

Carl Forup malede sin datter, Minna, da hun var syv eller otte år gammel. Han valgte en atypisk vinkel; bag skulderen og med fokus på nakken. Det færdige arbejde hedder slet og ret Minnas Nakke og er gengivet i sort-hvid i en bog om Forup fra 1938. Der er det dateret 1915, men maleriet optræder også andetsteds i bogen, i en liste over vigtige arbejder, hvor det er dateret 1913. Det er et dejligt billede, og jeg ville ønske, jeg kunne se det i levende live.

Jeg antager, at Forup havde stor indflydelse på, hvilke værker var med på listen af vigtige arbejder. Med sine blot 22 x 22 cm er Minnas Nakke nemt det mindste af dem alle. Hvorfor er det et vigtigt arbejde?

 

Det var i al fald en personlig favorit: Carl Forup gengav billedet i lithografi så sent som i 1936, men han viste også Minnas nakke i adskillige malerier. På Carl Forup Facebook-siden ser man i La Giovinezza [Da: Ungdom] fra 1933 Minna siddende på en skammel, og hun optræder også i Børn på en Bro fra 1934.

Vi vil sikkert støde på andre eksempler over tiden.

Imens voksede Minna op. I 1923 malede Carl Forup hende igen over skulderen, denne gang med hendes søskende Per and Ole, og værket hedder derfor Mine Børn. Per kigger ud på os; Ole er straks mere sky, ligesom sin søster.

De mest indtagende af Carl Forups værker er utviltsomt hans afbildninger af børn – og de var meget populære på Forups egen tid. Det er muligt, at Carl Forup fandt sin sande niche med det blide studie af Minnas Nakke i 1910erne. Indtil da havde han hovedsageligt været en landskabsmaler.

Mikael Lytzau Forup 25/06/2017

 

Minna’s Neck – a Recurrent Forup Theme

 

Carl Forup painted his daughter, Minna, when she was 7 or 8 years old. He chose an unusual angle for the portrait; standing behind her shoulder, focusing on her neck. The resulting picture is simply called Minna’s Neck [Danish: Minnas Nakke] and was reproduced in black and white in a book about Forup published in 1938. The date is given as 1915, but the picture is also included on a list of important works elsewhere in the book, and there the date is 1913.

It’s a lovely study and I wish I could see the painting in the flesh.

I suspect Forup had a strong say on which pictures were listed as important works in the book. Measuring only 22 x 22 cm, Minna’s Neck is easiest the smallest of them all. But why is it an important work? 

It was clearly a personal favourite of his: Carl Forup reproduced the picture in lithography as late as in 1936. He also used Minna’s neck in several of his paintings. On the Carl Forup Facebook page you can find Minna turned away from our gaze in La Giovinezza [Eng: Youth, Da: Ungdom] from 1933 and also in Children on a Bridge [Da: Børn på en Bro] from 1934 – in both pictures she’s present on the left. 

Perhaps other examples will emerge over time.

In 1923 Carl Forup painted Minna from behind again; this time with her brothers Per and Ole, and the painting is called My Children [Da: Mine Børn]. Per looks directly at us; Ole is more shy, like his sister.

Some of the most charming of Carl Forup’s pictures are arguably those of children – and they proved popular, together with portraiture and general depictions of the human form. Perhaps Carl Forup discovered his true niche with the tender study of Minna’s Neck in the mid-1910s. Up until then he had mainly been a landscape painter.

Mikael Lytzau Forup 25/06/2017