Plaster, 1898-1899. The plaster original was donated to the museum by Niels Hansen Jacobsen. Bronze cast for Vejen Art Museum, 1967. Size 380 x 126 x 126 cm. Inv. no. 139.

Exhibitions

Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1899.
One-man show at the Free Exhibition Building, 1901.

Niels Hansen Jacobsen's accompanying text

The printed catalogue for the Skibelund studio, 1914, reads:

I have seen a man,
clad from head to foot in steel.
His face has the expression of a bird of prey.
He rejoices in the brutality of the battlefield,
its destruction and horror.
He disregards the plaints of the wounded men at his feet.

The motif

"Militarism" is personified by an abstractly conceived warrior. He is enthroned at the top of a pyramid of disembodied human heads in various stages of decay, all executed with great naturalism. The sculpture's message lies in its brutal, angular idiom. It conjures up militarism as an inhuman, mechanical, and lethal figure and must be viewed as a pacifistic warning against war. The mound of skulls at the base can be interpreted as a statement that no matter how different people seem, we are all the same in death. If we want to go a step farther, we can also view the cruciform warrior as a reference to Christianity, and consequently in general to religion, which has been the cause of so many wars throughout the ages.

The Dreyfus affair

When "Militarism" was exhibited in Paris in 1899, people thought that the figure was a comment on the Dreyfus Affair. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer, had been deported in 1894 to Devil's Island after being convicted of high treason, an accusation that proved false in 1896.

Clerical, anti-Semitic, nationalistic, and top military circles opposed having the case reopened, and were fiercely countered by radical and socialist groups. The affair's most important commentator was the author Emile Zola, whose "J'accuse" was of decisive significance. The Dreyfus affair led to numerous political crises and disclosures of corruption. Dreyfus was pardoned in 1899 but was not completely cleared of the charges until 1906.

Dreyfus's defenders considered Niels Hansen Jacobsen's figure to be a reaction against the French military. Nationalistic opponents were angry that a Dane took the liberty of interfering with a French affair. Niels Hansen Jacobsen later said that this interpretation was unfounded. Nonetheless, it is thought-provoking that it was during these eventful years that he created sculptures with such dangerous names as "Freedom in Our Time" and "Militarism."

"Militarism" in Denmark

J. B. C. Estrup, who headed the Danish government from 1875 to 1894, carried out a comprehensive military armament project: defenses were strengthened, Copenhagen was fortified towards the land, and the existing fortifications towards the sea were expanded. Other measures that were taken during this period were to increase police powers and to establish a gendarmerie. People actually began to speak of the militarization of Copenhagen.

Rejected for the Universal Exposition

In 1899, Niels Hansen Jacobsen submitted "Militarism" for the Danish pavilion at the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1900. The chairman of the selection committee, the sculptor Vilhelm Bissen, replied in a letter dated December 28, 1899:

Dear Hansen Jacobsen We have just met among other things to look at your photograph of "Militarism." I regret that none of us liked it, which is why it will not be accepted for the Danish pavilion at the exposition.
Yours sincerely, V. Bissen

Asger Jorn on "Militarism" in 1963

The painter Asger Jorn wrote about the sculpture in the journal Kunst in March 1963:

At the museum in Vejen stands a statue that is undoubtedly the Danish sculpture that has played the greatest role in world art, since in France ... it was the greatest source of inspiration for the development of cubist sculpture.... It is called... Militarism, and no one can fail to see why. The day this sculpture is erected on Knivsbjærg in a solid material, the most profound essence of the Danish resistance movement will be given a face and will show the face of what we will continue to oppose. Erected on a four-sided pyramid the same size as the figure, it will become the world's most significant war monument. Hopefully the last.

The bronze cast

Throughout Niels Hansen Jacobsen's lifetime, the sculpture remained in white plaster, placed centrally at the central axis of the Sculpture Hall. The sculptor made an effort to create the effect of bronze in a stoneware version of the head now found at the museum. "Militarism" was not cast in bronze until 1967, for the 25th anniversary of Niels Hansen Jacobsen's death in 1966. The casting was jointly funded by the museum and Vejen Parish Council. The sculpture stood in Vejen Park until 1981, when it was moved to its current location at the Town Hall Square.

The statuette version

A photograph exists of a statuette version of "Militarism" (present owner unknown), showing that Niels Hansen Jacobsen treated the pile of heads in a different manner. As a reference to the fact that militarism is found in all parts of the world, the uppermost row of heads is made up of Chinese, Africans, Europeans, Indians, etc. Below lie decaying heads, and at the bottom of the pyramid lie uniform, bare skulls.