Women by the Sea
Women by the Sea – in the footsteps of the Nymindegab painters
Agnete Brinch is fascinated by the Nymindegab painters’ interpretations and, for this exhibition, has painted inside the Nymindegab Museum surrounded by their works, just as she has taken her easel out into the dune landscape where they stood more than 100 years ago. Agnete Brinch is drawn to the poetry of landscape and colours that move from tone to tone, creating music in the visual language—an inward- and outward-looking reflection. This land out west, besides being Agnete Brinch’s and her family’s home region, has also inspired her from a cultural-historical perspective. Landscape paintings, portraits and family photographs have become fragments, abstractions and paraphrases that retell the story of the art and the life that were created and lived here, inspired by the magnificent nature and the cast of characters.
Female artists stepped off a path that shaped them as individuals in their own right. From Anna Ancher, Marie Luplau, Sofie Holten, Maria Thymann and Marie Sandholt, among others, she is drawn to their courage, professionalism and pioneering spirit.
As an artist, Agnete Brinch documents and is inspired by how the depicted woman has changed over the past 150 years from a demure object to a strong subject in her own right. She admires both women who have the courage and will to break with the expectations of their time, and women who were and are the glue of our society in Denmark. They made and make a difference. Her fascination has taken shape in the art project Women Who Change the World, in which she interprets her role models.
Reflections from the working process:
“I admire the painters of the artists’ colony, and I have challenged myself by following in their footsteps.”
“I interpret the landscape of West Jutland and combine it with portraits of more or less prominent and significant female role models.”
“I interpret the quiet female figures of the time, who almost danced like shadows as they went about their daily tasks and were the glue in the small surrounding communities.”
“I cross my own tracks and those of my foremothers in the part of Denmark that, for me, is the land of fairy tales and my childhood.”
“I rethink the works of the time and place them in a new perspective, relating the period’s view of the genders to today’s.”
“I want to fill the gap in history where women ought to be. I believe in the strength of having good role models we can mirror ourselves in.”
Agnete Brinch
Figurehead on land, Fight for all you hold dear II
Nature and art can do anything, but must do nothing. For me, it makes sense to create art that is oriented towards the present, with the UN Sustainable Development Goals as an ethical compass. I have found my purpose in life: through art, to create presence, space, and calm for reflection. Nature provides simplicity and coherence. It brings calm and meaning. The aesthetics and light in nature are the meaning of life. Without them, we are lost. The planet will survive, but will we? A figurehead comes ashore to fight for all she holds dear. A depiction of a woman seen from behind, wearing a boxing glove, can only be a call to continue the fight for our survival and the planet’s, for gender...
Maria Thymann without dog
Maria Thymann – Danish artist Maria Christine Thymann (1867–1928) was a Danish painter active in Denmark in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She is especially known for her paintings, including landscapes and scenes related to the Danish artists’ colony in Nymindegab on the West Coast, where painters often found inspiration in nature, the coastal landscape, and local life by Ringkøbing Fjord. Thymann attracted attention when she was working, as she did not, like other artists, wander out into the landscape to find her inspiration. She drove in a jumpe and brought all her equipment with her. Thymann’s paintings have been sold at auction both in Denmark and internationally, and she is...
Women in a Landscape, Skallingen
As an artist, I document and draw inspiration from how the depicted woman over the past 150 years has changed from a silent object to a strong subject in her own right. I admire both women who have the courage and determination to break with the expectations of their time, and women who were and are the glue of our society in Denmark. They made and make a difference. My fascination has taken shape in the art project Women Who Change the World, in which I interpret my role models. In Nymindegab, an artists’ colony emerged in the late 1800s, painting nature and the everyday, arduous life of the fishing village of the time. I am fascinated by their interpretations and have been fortunate to...
Woman on her way in a landscape
The woman seen from behind is on her way, but towards what? She is silent. Perhaps she is “the speaking silence”, like a blank page in a book—inviting reflection and reconsideration. To me, she symbolises a future in which women are present and seen in all their different strengths. Over the past 150 years, the depicted woman has changed from a modest object to a strong subject in her own right. Change towards a new world begins with the way the world looks at women. Our view of women begins with ourselves, and with how we look at girls and women.
Fight for everything you hold dear.
To paint is to hope—to fight for everything I hold dear. To paint is to hope—to hope for the future of our children and grandchildren—to hope for the future of the planet! The drama in the painting is created, among other things, by placing the figures physically in a vast emptiness, beneath a dark sky or against a dramatic background. The light and the contrast are accentuated when the very brightest meets the very darkest. Again and again, music is created from the poetry of the colour tones. We long, we are drawn in, we feel.
