Teubner M (2025)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2025
DOI: 10.1080/00233609.2025.2491346
Summary: In the 1980s, transregional exhibitions shaped a discourse on Nordic painting of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that focused on region-specific characteristics such as Nordic light, closeness to nature, and melancholy. Ten years later, Nordic contemporary art moved into the international spotlight. The region-specific attributions that were linked to the idea of the North as a cultural area on the European periphery are now deconstructed as outdated clichés. Two different versions of the piece Scandinavian Pain (2006/2013) by Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson (b. 1976) are discussed to exemplify how such topoi are critically reflected upon by artists. Kjartansson’s staging of the romantic image of the melancholic Scandinavian artist can be understood as a self-reflexive commentary on notions of Nordic art and the North.
APA:
Teubner, M. (2025). Artistic Exchange on the Notion of Nordic Art in the Works of Ragnar Kjartansson. Konsthistorisk Tidskrift. https://doi.org/10.1080/00233609.2025.2491346
MLA:
Teubner, Maike. "Artistic Exchange on the Notion of Nordic Art in the Works of Ragnar Kjartansson." Konsthistorisk Tidskrift (2025).
BibTeX: Download