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Jens Lund was the son of a cabinetmaker. Due to a large inheritance he never had to make a living as an artist. Toward the end of the 1930's his heirs decided that his artistic production was to join that of his good friend Niels Hansen Jacobsen (1861-1941) at his museum in Vejen. From 1896-1899 Jens Lund lived in Paris, where he was among the artists that met at Hansen Jacobsen's and his wife Gabriele's studio. During the 1890's their home at Boulevard Arago 65 became a meeting place for such Danish symbolists as Rudolph Tegner and Johannes Holbek. Actually a lot of artists gathered there - among others Axel Hou, Carl Johan Bonnesen and Anna E. Munch. Jens Lund was the Danish artist who most directly worked in the modern French style of art nouveau. Organic plant shapes were used as the base for a new art (= art nouveau in French). It is most obvious in the large scale pen and ink drawings for his art books called »Transmuting Flowers«, 1899, and »The Forest of Life«, 1901. In the latter he lets the shapes of the trees express different feelings and stages in the life of a human being - such as the secure and comforting forest of childhood, or the frightening 'forest of the fear of death', where every single tree in horror stretches its branches toward the sky. In »Transmuting Flowers« Jens Lund uses the arabesque like flowers to express human natures such as the sneaking sly, crafty flower or the aggressively pointed flower of anarchism. His masterpiece »The Glory of the Lord«, 1899-1900, hangs at the Vejen Art Museum. It is maintained that the painting was a study for a stained-glass window. The clearly defined outlines round each colour seem to indicate leaded panes. Keeping the title in mind it seems natural to imagine the large window situated where the altarpiece would otherwise hang. The glory of the Lord is seen as a direct cosmic ray of energy. The painting may bring associations to theosophy - or unknown forces from outer space. Confronted with this stained-glass window the churchgoer might feel a more direct contact to higher forces than when studying one of the many altarpieces of the period with naturalistic depictions of Jesus with the sick, children or even a lamb. The large painting presently hangs in what used to be Hansen Jacobsens studio as the centrepiece of a triptych flanked by »The Flower of Day« and »The Flower of Night«. These two art nouveau paintingshave been added a touch of symbolism.
Visitors are frequently surprised by the date on the painting - »But it looks so like one of the record sleaves produced for the Beatles during the 1960's!«. The two things are quite logically related, as the shapes of the art nouveau were of vital importance to the surrealist movement which later inspired the flower-power style of the 1960's. The COBRA painter Asger Jorn was among the Danish artists who were interested in the work of the Danish symbolists - he was especially fascinated by the work of Hansen Jacobsen and the collections at his museum. He had plans to produce a book about Jens Lund as well as Hansen Jacobsen, but never got further than having the sculptures photographed. In the mid 1930's the Danish painter Richard Mortensen produced a group of pen and ink drawings relating to the illustrations in »Transmuting Flowers« (especially illustrations like »The Rakes Flower«). Also a group of paintings such as »Objects between night and day. Fourth Time.« (painted on the Danish island of Bornholm during July/August 1935) bear the influence of Jens Lund. Teresa Nielsen
Literature There is hardly any literature available about Jens Lund. The best introduction to him and his works was written by the Danish artist and art historian Jørgen Rømer. For many years he was associated with the Vejen Art Museum as a consultant on artistic matters. The text was first printed in 1976 (»Vejen Kunstmuseum - Tegninger og grafik«), and later reprinted in the catalogue raisonné‚ of the collections, 1991 (both catalogues are only available in Danish). |
