(Hamburg, 22.10.1880 - Hamburg, 5.7.1965)
Johannes Holst was a German artist who specialized in painting marine and open sea scenes in the 20th century. He is known for his highly realistic style, with which he recorded a wide variety of weather phenomena. He painted with oil paints and acrylics, but most often used mixed media, with which he came to his recognisable style. Holst first encountered painting at the age of fourteen. At that time, the young artist was taught by Hinrich Paul Lüdders, who inspired him with marine landscapes.
In the early stages of his work, he painted fishing boats on the island of Altenwerde and people in his surroundings. Later, he became interested in depicting fishermen on the Elbe, and in his last period, he devoted his entire focus to a series of steamships. In his works, the coast of Cape Horn and the Elbe peninsula often appeared in the background. From 1903, he began to systematically depict marine motifs. He then signed a contract with the merchant Commeter, with whom he agreed to furnish sailing clubs and shipyards with his works. In developing his own recognizable style, Holst often relied on his role models, who had already depicted similar motifs for several years before him. He was particularly influenced by Anton Melbye, Hugo Schnars Alquis and Jack Spurling, from whom he adopted diverse compositional solutions and a harmonious tonal scale with dramatic light accents, which made his images truly excellent.
His works are dominated by various shades of blue, which were not just a tool for representation for him but an important element of the painter's expressiveness. His colour palette reflected the artist's mood and emotional state. With it, he achieved a mood in his paintings that allowed the viewer to empathise with the painting. In Holst's images, on the one hand, one can feel the artist's love for life at sea and shipbuilding, and on the other, a distinct awe for its dimensions and turbulent currents. He achieved drama in his paintings mainly with turbulent waves and restless clouds, with which he framed the central motif. He was considered an excellent painter who balanced colour applications with texture to achieve a good visual effect. His every move was well thought out, so when we come into contact with his artworks, we can fully empathise with the given moment. He himself was an enthusiastic sailor and a member of the SVAO. At the age of thirty-two, he won a grand prize on the Elbe.
Johannes Holst spent many years at sea. His paintings are like a visual element that testify to the artist's life and work. In his time, he was a highly regarded artist and is considered the best German marine landscape painter. He left behind an exceptionally large oeuvre of approximately 3,000 oils on canvas and works on paper.
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Johannes Holst je bil nemški likovni umetnik, ki se je v 20. stoletju specializiral za slikanje marin in podob na odprtem morju. Prepoznamo ga po visoko realističnemu slogu s katerim je zabeležil najrazličnejše vremenske pojave. Slikal je z oljnimi barvami in akrili, najbolj pogosto pa je uporabljal mešano tehniko, s katero je prišel do svojega prepoznavnega sloga. S slikanjem se je Holst prvič srečal pri štirinajstih letih. Tedaj je mladega umetnika poučeval Hinrich Paul Lüdders, ki ga je navdušil nad morskim krajinarstvom.
V zgodni fazi ustvarjanja je slikal ribiške ladje na otoku Altenwerde in ljudi v svoji okolici. Kasneje se je začel zanimati za upodabljanje ribičev na Labi, v njegovem zadnjem obdobju pa je celoten fokus posvetil seriji parnikov. V njegovih umetninah se je v ozadju večkrat pojavila obala rta Horn in polotok Elba. Od leta 1903 je pričel s sistematičnim upodabljanjem morskih motivov. Tedaj je sklenil pogodbo s trgovcem Commeter, s katerim sta se dogovorila, da bodo z njegovimi deli opremili jadralske klube in ladjedelnice. Pri razvoju lastno prepoznavnega sloga se je Holst večkrat oprl na svoje vzornike, ki so že nekaj let pred njim upodabljali podobno motiviko. Nanj so še posebej vplivali Anton Melbye, Hugo Schnars Alquis in Jack Spurling, od katerih je prevzel raznolike kompozicijske rešitve in harmonično tonsko lestvico z dramatičnimi svetlobnimi poudarki, s katerimi so njegove podobe postale zares odlične.
V njegovih delih dominirajo raznoliki odtenki modre barve, ki zanj niso bili zgolj orodje za reprezentacijo ampak pomembni element slikarjeve izraznosti. Njegova barvna paleta je odražala umetnikovo počutje in čustveno stanje. Z njo je v slikah dosegel štimungo, s katero se je gledalec lahko vživel v sliko. V Holstovih podobah je po eni strani mogoče občutit umetnikovo ljubezen do življenja na morju in izdelovanja ladij, po drugi pa izrazito strahospoštovanje do njegovih razsežnosti in nemirnih tokov. Dramatičnost je v slikah dosegel predvsem z razburkanimi valovi in nemirnimi oblaki, s katerimi je uokviril osrednji motiv. Veljal je za odličnega slikarja, ki je uravnotežil barvne nanose s teksturo, da je dosegel dober vizualni učinek. Vsaka njegova poteza je bila premišljena, zato se ob stiku z njegovimi umetninami lahko popolnoma vživimo v dani trenutek. Tudi sam je bil navdušen jadralec in član SVAO. Pri dvaintridesetih letih je osvojil veliko nagrado na Elbi.
Johannes Holst je dolga leta preživel na morju. Njegove slike so kot vizualni element, ki pričajo o življenju in delovanju umetnika. V svojem času je bil zelo cenjen umetnik in velja za najboljšega nemškega morskega krajinarja. Za seboj je pustil izjemno velik opus s približno 3000 olji na platno in deli na papirju.
Besedilo je za galerijo Porta Alpina pripravila Pia Župevec, dipl. um. zgod.
The text was prepared for the Porta Alpina gallery by Pia Župevec, B.Sc. art history
SOURCES/VIRI:
Walter KÖNIG, Johannes Holst, Hamburg 2019.
Walter KÖNIG, Marinemaler Joh's Holst, Hamburg 2000.
Norbert SUXDORF, Künstler Segeln, pp. 70-77, https://www.svaoe.de/images/pdf/Chronik/Chronik_14.pdf (20.12.2024).
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