Carl Fredrik Hill

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other people named Carl or Karl Hill, see Carl Hill (disambiguation).
Carl Fredrik Hill as a young student
Oil and watercolour paintings by Carl Fredrik Hill in the gallery for temporary exhibits at the Gothenburg Museum of Art, 1934

Carl Fredrik Hill (31 May 1849 – 22 February 1911) was a Swedish painter and draftsman.[1] He is known for the atmospheric landscapes he painted during the first four years of his career, and for the drawings of fantastical scenes he created after he became mentally ill in his late twenties.

Biography

Early life and training

Born the son of a mathematics professor, Hill grew up in the university town of

Camille Corot had a decisive influence on him.[1]

Career

Seine landscape and Populus (1877)
Wild Country in the Forest of Fontainebleau (1876)
Seine. Motif from St Germain (1877)

Hill wrote: “I have become convinced that art has no other goal than the truth, le vrai. Not the tritely naturalistic, but the true heart." He sought his subjects at different sites in France;

hallucinations and paranoia. Friends helped him return home to Sweden where he gained sanctuary at his parental home after a short period at St. Lars mental hospital in Lund. At home he was cared for by his mother and a sister for 28 years until his death in 1911.[2] Hill was buried at Östra churchyard in Lund.[1]

Later period

During the 28 years before his death, Hill's creative work entered a new phase. The Swedish art historian Ragnar Josephson calls it "the second great period of his life as a painter". His artistry continued unabated; during these years he drew four drawings a day. The

illustrations.[2] To Hill, drawing was a way to take control of the new world which had now succeeded the old one. On paper he created a world of his own. Drawing became a way to distract the evil forces that he perceived surrounding him constantly. He defended himself, using a pencil as his weapon. "The prince of whispers ... where the world glows in a blood-red struggle" writes Gunnar Ekelöf in a poem to Hill.[3]

Hill never lived to see his recognition as an artist. He produced thousands of drawings in various techniques:

watercolour. Some 3,500 drawings are still thought to exist, of which more than 2,600 are part of the collections of the Malmö Art Museum, as are 23 of his oil paintings. The largest collection of all was donated to the Malmö Art Museum by Hill's heirs and have been increased with important gifts from private collections.[4]

Hill's drawings were discovered and admired mainly by artists. Thanks to the Swedish collector Rolf de Maré (1888–1964), Hill's work become known in connection with the French avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1949, a hundred years after Hill's birth, a travelling exhibition was shown in London, Lucerne, Basel, Geneva and Hamburg. The exhibition was a success, and in 1952 the Institut Tessin in Paris published a book about Hill with an introduction by Jacques Lassaigne. Since then several works about Hill have appeared in Sweden, and Hill exhibitions succeed one another both in Sweden and abroad. Hill is now reckoned as one of Sweden's most important landscape painters, and the drawings done during the time he was ill in Lund have made him known outside Sweden as well.[5]

Selected works

Route de Paris II (1877) The Thiel Gallery Stockholm

References

  1. ^ a b c Svenskt biografiskt lexikon. "Carl Fredrik Hill". Nils Lindhagen. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d Gunnarsson, T. (2003, January 01). "Hill, Carl Fredrik". Grove Art Online.
  3. ^ "Carl Fredrik Hill (1849-1911) Sweden". barnebys.com. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  4. ^ Roberta Smith (November 19, 2009). "Carl Fredrik Hill (1849-1911) Sweden". Art in Review. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  5. ^ "Rolf de Maré – rik, gay och framsynt danspionjär". Sveriges Radio AB. Retrieved March 1, 2019.

Other sources

Media related to Carl Fredrik Hill at Wikimedia Commons

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carl_Fredrik_Hill&oldid=1201255809"