… and this is an occupation known as painting, which calls for imagination, and skill of hand, in order to discover things not seen, hiding themselves under the shadow of natural objects, and to fix them with the hand, presenting to plain sight what does not actually exist.
The Craftman’s Handbook
”Il Libro dell’ Arte”
Cennino Cennini (c.1370 – c.1440)
BIOGRAPHY
Niels Strøbek, born 1944, Danish painter and graphic artist. Niels Strøbek studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1962-67 with Egill Jacobsen.
Despite the realism in Strøbek's paintings, his goal is not simply the direct and lifelike reproduction of reality. He depicts visible reality to grasp what is not immediately visible and to create an ordered whole out of the chaotic surface. This attitude means that when encountering his works, one is confronted with duality: the typical, contemporary depiction and the timeless, universal.
In Niels Strøbek's works, the connection to the history of art is clear: the Italian Renaissance, the Spanish Baroque, the Danish Golden Age and, not least, modernism constitute some of the prerequisites. The range of motifs includes compositions, landscapes and human figures.
The installations show Strøbek's preoccupation with abstract forms and his use of the primary colours red, yellow and blue to create tension and sensuality. An example is Yellow Box (1980, Randers Art Museum). In his landscape paintings, including Amager Fælled (1984, Fuglsang Art Museum) and Oak Trees (1985, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek), he processes fragments of reality that set thoughts in motion — a city seen from a distance, old trees, industrial buildings or a barn.
Strøbek has treated the human figure in commissioned portraits, allegorical depictions and model images. He has painted Queen Margrethe II several times, including in 1975 (Danske Bank), in 1998 (Aarhus City Hall) and in 2012, Three Lineages (Frederiksborg Museum), where she is shown together with Crown Prince Frederik and his son, Prince Christian. Prince Henrik is depicted in paintings from 1988 (private collection) and 2014, Three Stages of Life (Frederiksborg Museum). Portraits of famous people, such as Prime Minister Poul Schlüter (1995, The Danish Parliament, Christiansborg), have gradually faded into the background in favour of studies of anonymous women.
Niels Strøbek has always been interested in exploring femininity or the enigmatic in women, such as in The Three (1970, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek), By the Sea (1979, same place) and Double Portrait (1981, ARoS, Aarhus Art Museum). This has also manifested itself in the series Ten. The Five Wise and the Five Foolish Maidens (1992-93, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek).
In a monumental decorative work in the Copenhagen Court House (1985), he has incorporated elements from his entire range of motifs and created a composite allegory of the modern constitutional state.
2020. Niels Strøbek was awarded with the Commander's Cross of the Dannebrog. R1., R. • 1998. Lifetime recipient of the Danish Arts Foundation's Honorary Grant.
Translated from Denmark’s National Encyclopaedia.
Marianne Bühlmann 17.09.2024