Description
Anton Michelsen Christmas Fork 1911 Partially Gilded Sterling Silver
Motif: The Infant Christ
Designed by Gudmund Hentze
He was born in Næstved. When he was nine years old, the family moved to Copenhagen. He attended the Academy of Fine Arts 1893-1894 and Zahrtmanns Skole 1897-1898. In 1893-1894 he was part of the movement around the magazine Taarnet, which advocated symbolism in art, especially literature, led by the author Johannes Jørgensen. Hentze illustrated many books, including J.P. Jacobsen's novel Fru Marie Grubbe and fairy tales by H.C. Andersen. His illustration work was similar to that of his colleague Lorenz Frølich, but while he was inspired by German and French artists, Hentze was primarily stylistically inspired by the English Pre-Raphaelites and A. Beardsly.
His works were frequently exhibited in the early 20th century, and he was a member of the artist group Den Frie Udstilling 1905-1928. He also exhibited at both Charlottenborg and the Museum of Decorative Arts.
In 1907, fellow artist Gerda Wegener had a portrait rejected by Charlottenborg's censorship committee. Outraged, Hentze wrote an article in Politiken on April 14, 1907. In it, he expressed his contempt for the "peasant painters", which was his term for the impressionist-inspired Danish nature painters such as Peter Hansen, Fritz Syberg and Johannes Larsen. In the post, he expresses that his own symbolist-inspired art is on a higher cultural level than the peasant painters, who he believed glorified "the lowest development" with their images of the Danish peasant landscape. In his rhetoric, he anticipated many of the Nazi ideas very early on.
The discussion led to him becoming persona non grata in Danish art circles, and his view of art was considered backward and reactionary by most young artists.
Gudmund Hentze produced industrial art: he designed cutlery and ashtrays, among other things. He also produced graphic works and made proposals for embroidery and metalwork
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