ExhibitionHAMMERSHØI AND DREYER

CCCB25.01.07 – 01.05.07

INDEX

1.- Exhibition credits .......................................................................2

2.- Presentation...............................................................................3

3.- Exhibition texts ..........................................................................5

4.- List of works on show ................................................................9

5.- Catalogue ................................................................................15

6.- Accompanying activities...........................................................17

7.- Biographies of Hammershøi and Dreyer ..................................19

8.- Curators’ CVs............................................................................22

9.- The architecture project for the exhibition ..............................23

10.- General information ...............................................................24

1.- EXHIBITION CREDITS

“Hammershøi and Dreyer” is a co-production by Ordrupgaard (Copenhagen) and the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB). The exhibition ran at Ordrupgaard from 1 September 2006 and 7 January 2007, and will now go on show at the CCCB between 25 January and 1 May 2007.

CURATORSAnne-Birgitte Fonsmark, Annette Rosenvold Hvidt, Casper Tybjerg and Jordi Balló

DESIGN AND DIRECTION OF THE EXHIBITION ASSEMBLY AND GRAPHICSRCR Aranda Pigem Vilalta ArquitectesWith the collaboration of Ventura-Llimona Taller d’arquitectura

COORDINATION AND DOCUMENTATIONOrdrupgaardMiquel Nogués, Exhibitions Service of the CCCB

LIGHTING AND SPECIAL MONTAGESArtecluminotecnia M. Ginés, I. Dominguez, M. Fuentes, J. Piera and the CCCB’s Production and Assembly Unit

GRAPHIC DESIGN OF PUBLICITYLali Almonacid

ASSEMBLY OF AUDIOVISUAL INSTALLATIONSAudiovisuals Department of the CCCB

EXHIBITION ASSEMBLYNix Profusta SL

REGISTRATION AND INSTALLATION OF ORIGINAL WORKSRegistration and Conservation Unit of the CCCB and M. Carme Balliu

Exhibition co-produced byCCCB and Ordrupgaard

With the backing of theDepartment of Culture and Media of the Generalitat de Catalunya Catalan Autonomous Government

Sponsored byLa Vanguardia

With the collaboration of+Queen Isabel of Denmark FoundationNovo NordiskVestas

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2.- PRESENTATION

The CCCB presents the exhibition Hammershøi and Dreyer, bringing together for the first time the bodies of work of the two most universal Danish artists of all time: the painter Vilhelm Hammershøi (Copenhagen, 1864–1916) and the filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer (Copenhagen, 1889–1968). The show is a co-production of the CCCB and Copenhagen’s Ordrupgaard, where it will run until 7 January 2007. It can be visited at the CCCB from 25 January to 1 May 2007.

This exhibition is the first time Hammershøi’s work has been shown in Spain, represented here by 36 essential pieces. To date, anthological shows of the Danish painter have only been presented in Paris, New York and Hamburg.

The artists

Vilhelm Hammershøi (Copenhagen, 1864 – 1916) was an artist who created his own personal style, independent of the trends of the time. His work is confined to a few pictorial themes: interiors of the places where he lived; a solitary woman, normally with her back turned to us, in a domestic setting; portraits of family and friends; monumental buildings in Copenhagen and London, and landscapes of the Danish island of Sealand. These motifs appear repeatedly in his paintings, creating an atmosphere of mystery with no apparent action, and this immobility is one of the keys to the fascination it exerts. Hammershøi’s range of colours is dominated by greys which, in his hand, acquire a strange depth. He was one of the painters who best knew how to express the tempo of solitude and the corporeal nature of light.

Carl Theodor Dreyer (Copenhagen, 1889 – 1968) directed films that refine the expressivity of light and shadow, and are characterized by an indefatigable quest for spiritual truths and beauty. In the course of 40 years, he filmed both silent and speaking films, including The President (Præsidenten, 1918), Michael (Mikaël, 1924), Master of the House (Du Skal Ære Din Hustru, 1925), The Passion of Joan of Arc (La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc, 1927), Vampyr (1932) and Day of Wrath (Vredens Dag, 1943). In 1955, Dreyer won first prize in the Venice Film Festival with the film The Word (Ordet). His last film, Gertrud (1964), was highly controversial, but was awarded the Danish Bodil Prize for the Best Film of the Year. Today it is considered one of the ten best films in the history of the cinema.

The analogies

The exhibition presented by the CCCB aims firstly to publicize two very well known creators for the history of painting and film, though they are little known beyond Danish borders. The Barcelona show is only the fourth international exhibition to be devoted to Hammershøi. Dreyer’s films are screened very occasionally, and this is one of the first times they have been presented in an exhibition.

The second challenge of this project is to show the strong visual and creative relations between the artists, and in their methods, their intimate understanding of art and their aesthetic similarities. Hammershøi and Dreyer have many thematic and formal analogies:

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- They share the conviction that the greatest dramatic intensity is found in interiors (of a house, an image, a face).

- Their treatment of the human figure, particularly the female form: the enigmatic women with their backs to us in domestic interiors refer to the contemplation and ecstasy of the characters and their personal dramas, and even contain the hint of death.

- The dominance of light in the scene is impeccable in both artists. Hammershøi knew how to paint it, while Dreyer gave it cadence.

- Exteriors. First, there are the landscapes, charged with a very special atmosphere. Then there are the exteriors perceived through sculptural figures, windows and doors closed on the interiors represented.

The exhibition

As pointed out by the exhibition curators, Anne-Birgitte Fonsmark, Annette Rosenvold Hvidt, Casper Tybjerg and Jordi Balló, Dreyer was probably “Hammershøi’s best and maybe his only true heir”. However, the challenge of the exhibition is not just to highlight the analogies between the painter and the filmmaker, but also to establish the explicit link between the bodies of work of the authors in a two-way relationship. The exhibition will help us to understand some of the creative forms of the filmmaker by means of a knowledge of the painter’s work, and to better understand the essence of the painter in the light of the films by Dreyer that follow.

In order to achieve this aim, great care has been taken in the way the work of these two creators is shown to the public. This is why the exhibition design has been entrusted to the architecture practice RCR Aranda Pigem Vilalta Arquitectes, with the collaboration of Ventura-Llimona.

The exhibition comprises 36 works by Hammershøi and 12 audiovisuals showing excerpts from Dreyer’s films. The exhibition also presents photographs and documents on loan from the two artists’ personal archives, highlighting the process of reflection and work involved in their creations.

The show begins with Dreyer, underlining the importance of light in his films. It continues with Hammershøi’s paintings, presented one by one to highlight the intimate relationship between the spectator and the work and to convey the central ideas of his painting: austerity, sobriety, silence and slowness.

Dreyer remains present throughout the sector devoted to the works of Hammershøi, turning a visit to the exhibition into a sensorial experience in which the spectator can admire Hammershøi’s works in the light of Dreyer.

3.- EXHIBITION TEXTS

INTRODUCTION

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Poul Vad, the art historian and arguably the greatest expert on the paintings of Vilhelm Hammershøi, highlighted the linking thread connecting two of the most important Danish artists of all time: “we could say that the film director Carl Theodor Dreyer was the most important and perhaps the only true heir to the painter Hammershøi …” The conceptual core of the exhibition centres on the existence of two independent stylistic worlds in two different artistic media, which nevertheless share a similar attitude to dramatic intensity, austerity, light and silence.

Panels from the documental section of the show (a selection)

Hammershøi’s sister Anna frequently modelled for him in his early works. The photograph shows Anna seated at the piano. In front of her is Hammershøi’s first canvas, Portrait of a Young Girl (Portræt af en ung pige), dated 1885, which she posed for. The painting caused a sensation when it was first shown, as its composition and range of colours made it stand out from the other works in the exhibition. Photograph by Valdemar Schønheyder Møller, undated.

Ida and Vilhelm Hammershøi photographed in the living room of their house at 30 Strandgade, in the Christianshavn district, around 1903. Hammershøi lived and worked at 30 Strandgade between 1898 and 1909, and painted many interiors of the house (over 60 paintings according to the expert Poul Vad).

Pages from the photograph album which Ida and Vilhelm Hammershøi put together in 1913 for their friend Leonard Borwick to show him their neighbourhood and the decor of their new home at 25 Strandgade. The apartment was in the former building of the Asian Company – now the headquarters of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs–, which fascinated Hammershøi and was the central motif in a number of his paintings.

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Hammershøi and Dreyer were born 25 years apart. They probably never met or knew each other personally. However, the period 1916 to 1918 provides us with an essential connection between both artists.The full breadth of Hammershøi’s work was revealed following the major commemorative exhibition held at Kunstforeningen (now Gl Strand) in 1916, shortly after his death. This was before Dreyer made his first film, The President (Præsidenten) in 1918. Dreyer said that the film was inspired by his discovery of Hammershøi’s work.No photographs have been found of the 1916 commemorative exhibition at Kunstforeningen, but the layout was probably like this photograph of the 1896 exhibition of Hammershøi’s works in Charlottenborg.

Two interiors by Hammershøi which may have inspired Dreyer’s sets for The President (Præsidenten). Both paintings are on display in this exhibition.

While he was working for Nordisk, Dreyer made his directorial debut with The President (Præsidenten), which premiered in 1919. Still photo showing the main character in his living room, exactly as Dreyer had positioned him to reflect his “upright, respectable and dull personality”.

Dreyer is pictured on the right during the filming of Michael (Mikäel) in Berlin in 1924. Based on a novel by Herman Bang, the film is considered by many to be Dreyer’s first masterpiece.

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Still photo of the actresses Mathilde Nielsen and Karin Nellemose in Dreyer’s Master of the House (Du skal ære din hustru), 1925.Dreyer carried out extensive research to ensure the different settings in the film were as authentic as possible. The interior sets for Master of the House were built from four semi-moveable partitions to give the appearance of a real two-roomed house.

Maria Falconetti as Joan of Arc in Dreyer’s film The Passion of Joan of Arc (La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc), 1927.

Still photos from Vampyr. Dreyer imbued his film with a mysterious dreamlike atmosphere by filming the powerful sunlight through a fine layer of gauze to create a veiled effect.

In 1942 Dreyer returned to film-making after a 10-year break.In 1943 he made Day of Wrath (Vredens Dag) for Palladium A/S.This photograph shows him writing in the 1940s.

Still photos from the film Day of Wrath (Vredens Dag), 1943. The actors are Lisbeth Movin and Preben Lerdorff Rye.

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Between 1946 and 1954 Dreyer was commissioned to direct a series of short films by the State Film Committee. Here are a number of still photos from one of the most interesting and best known, They Caught the Ferry (De Naaede Faergen), 1948.

Still photo from The Word (Ordet), 1954.

Dreyer directs Nina Pens Rode and Bendt Rothe during the filming of Gertrud in 1964. Gertrud was Dreyer’s last film and many people think that the way he tried to create “real images” reveals Hammershøi’s influence.

Portrait of Dreyer around 1964. The director is pictured seated at home with Sten Rein’s book Hjalmar Söderberg’s Gertrud (Hjalmar Söderbergs Gertrud), which was a clear source of inspiration for his film of the same name.

The proposed film Jesus of Nazareth was an obsession of Dreyer’s for 40 years. Throughout his life, he worked and spent much of his time on the project, as can be seen in the hundreds of preparatory documents preserved in the Danish Film Institute archives. Here are some drawings by Julius Jotham-Rothschild with the preparatory models.

A photograph from Dreyer’s private archive taken during his summer holidays in the western region of Jutland.The photograph is an example of Dreyer’s interest in interiors and lighting effects, in clear harmony with the interiors and the treatment of light in Hammershøi’s paintings.4.- LIST OF WORKS ON SHOW

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12 audiovisual montages about the filmography of Carl Theodor Dreyer

Gertrud, 1964PalladiumExcerpt 4.30 min.

Gertrud, 1964PalladiumExcerpt 3.15 min.

The Word (Ordet), 1954PalladiumExcerpt 11 min.

The Word (Ordet), 1954PalladiumExcerpt 2.30 min.

Day of Wrath (Vredens Dag), 1943PalladiumExcerpt 2.11 min.

Day of Wrath (Vredens Dag), 1943PalladiumExcerpt 1.30 min.

Vampyr, 1932Carl Th. Dreyer Filmproduktion Paris-Berlin / DFIExcerpt 3.38 min.

Vampyr, 1932Carl Th. Dreyer Filmproduktion Paris-Berlin / DFIExcerpt 3.36 min.

Master of the House (Du Skal Ære Din Hustru), 1925PalladiumExcerpt 4.20 min.

Michael (Mikaël), 1924UFA / DFI- Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-StiftungExcerpt 6.10 min.

Leaves from Satan's Book (Blade af Satans Bog), 1919Nordisk Films KompagniExcerpt 3.46 min.

The President (Præsidenten), 1918Nordisk Films KompagniExcerpt 3 min.

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Works by Vilhelm Hammershøi

Vilhelm HammershøiWoman Reading (Strandgade 30)1908Oil on canvasKunstmuseet Brundlund Slot, Aabenraa, Denmark

Vilhelm HammershøiOld Woman. Seated1886Oil on canvasThe Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiInterior with Young Girl Sweeping1899Oil on canvasThe Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiInterior. Living Room with Piano and Woman dressed in Black1901Oil on canvasOrdrupgaard, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiInterior. The Four Rooms1914Oil on canvasOrdrupgaard, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiEvening in the Living Room1904Oil on canvasOrdrupgaard, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiInterior from the Large Hall at Lindegården1909Oil on canvasOrdrupgaard, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiThe Tall Windows1913Oil on canvasOrdrupgaard, Copenhagen

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Vilhelm HammershøiInterior. Woman sitting Behind a Table1910Oil on canvasOrdrupgaard, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiDust Motes Dancing in the Sunbeams1900Oil on canvasOrdrupgaard, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiYoung Girl Sewing1887Oil on canvasOrdrupgaard, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiInterior with Cabinet Sofa1907Oil on canvasOrdrupgaard, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiPortrait of Svend Hammershøi1892Oil on canvasOrdrupgaard, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiThe view of the Old Asiatic Company1902Oil on canvasPrivate collection. In storage at Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiThree young Women1895Oil on canvasRibe Kunstmuseum

Vilhelm HammershøiInterior with the Artist’s Easelc. 1910Oil on canvasStaten Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

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Vilhelm HammershøiEvening interior. The Artist's Mother and Wife1891 Oil on canvasStaten Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiThe Artist's Wife Ida, born Ilsted1894Oil on canvasStaten Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiInterior. The Old Oven1888Oil on canvasStaten Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiInterior with the Artist's Mother1889Oil on canvasNationalmuseum, Stockholm

Vilhelm HammershøiSunshine in the Living Room III1903Oil on canvasNationalmuseum, Stockholm

Vilhelm HammershøiInterior with the Artist's Mother and Sister1884Oil on canvasPrivate collection

Vilhelm HammershøiInterior with Plants on Cardtablec. 1910-1911Oil on canvasMalmö Artmuseum, Sweden

Vilhelm HammershøiThe Cello Player. Portrait of Henry Bramsen1893-1894Oil on canvasFyns Kunstmuseum / Odense City Museums

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Vilhelm HammershøiInterior with Punch Bowl1904Oil on canvasHRH Princess Benedickte of Denmark

Vilhelm HammershøiInterior with Woman at sewing Tablec. 1897Oil on canvasThe National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo

Vilhelm HammershøiThe Coin Collector1904Oil on canvasThe National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo

Vilhelm HammershøiInterior from the Home of the Artist1905 Oil on canvasAteneum Art Museum, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki

Vilhelm HammershøiInterior with Young Woman seen from behindc. 1903-1904Oil on canvasRanders Kunstmuseum

Vilhelm HammershøiInterior with Woman Reading a Letter1899Oil on canvasPrivate collection, Japan

Vilhelm HammershøiInterior with Woman at a Writing Desk (Strandgade 30)1900Oil on canvasPrivate collection, Japan

Vilhelm HammershøiSunshine in the Living Room I1903Oil on canvasPrivate collection, Japan

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Vilhelm HammershøiLandscape. View of Fortunen1901Oil on canvasStaten Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Vilhelm HammershøiView of Gentofte Lake, also called Sunshower1903Oil on canvasPrivate collection

Vilhelm HammershøiForest Interior, also called The Big Trees (Falster)1896Oil on canvasPrivate collection

Vilhelm HammershøiLandscape or Ryet (Farum)1896Oil on canvasPrivate collection

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5.- CATALOGUE

Texts by Jordi Balló, Anne-Birgitte Fonsmark, Casper Tybjerg, Annette Rosenvold Hvidt

160 pages125 b/w and colour images17 x 24 cmLanguages: Catalan - Spanish – EnglishPrice: 15,- eurosISBN: 978-84-9803-138-6Publisher: CCCB and the Institut d’Edicions of the Diputació de Barcelona

Prologue to the catalogue by Josep Ramoneda

Illuminating

At last, Hammershøi. This has been one of the most ardent hopes in the short history of the CCCB. During the early days of the Centre, Albert Garcia Espuche was the first person to speak of this peculiarly urban painter – of an urbanity restricted to his personal world – of such delicate light. Then we saw the exhibition at the Musée Orsay – on one of the few occasions when Hammershøi’s paintings have been seen outside their Danish homeland – and we were convinced that we had to bring them to Barcelona. Then, Jordi Balló took up the challenge again and we put together this exhibition, placed under the focus of the light, or even lights.

Wilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916) and Carl Dreyer (1889-1968). The painter and the filmmaker: two ways of gaining access to light guided by a familiar register. Dreyer acknowledged Hammershøi’s light in himself. And this is the angle we have chosen in order to connect both their oeuvres: light, insofar as what it contains as a metaphor for knowledge. Lights come from art.

Presenting a selection of Hammershøi’s paintings is an event in itself. They have only been seen outside their country on three occasions. Nevertheless, in this case, it was a question of seeking added value according to the style of the CCCB: which means establishing relationships and changing perspectives. Dreyer helps us place Hammershøi under another gaze, while Hammershøi helps us illuminate Dreyer. And this is how the strange depths of the most distant North become more familiar, more understandable and more assimilable to us.

To a certain extent, Hammershøi invites us to visit to the primordiality of the urban. In its dawning, there is a series of houses touched by a light which is the sign that there is something outside that conditions what is inside. From here, we can proceed to unravel many threads that lead to what we call modernity. It is here that we already find the skill of Dreyer, the precursor in many things.

Playing with light, proving that there is no single way of lighting paintings, trying to project the light of Dreyer on to the light of Hammershøi, this has been the objective of museographic innovation imposed on us by this exhibition. This is why I would like to take this opportunity to champion the work of the lighting technicians, the often unsung, yet key figures in museography.

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6.- FILM CYCLE

DREYER AFTER HAMMERSHØIFrom 7 March to 25 April 2007

Cycle directed by Jordi Balló

Each screening in this cycle of the essential films of Carl Theodor Dreyer will be preceded by a lecture by a specialist in a different field. The cycle will present different approaches to the exhibition’s central themes: the connections between the painter Vilhelm Hammershøi and the filmmaker Carl Th. Dreyer with regard to the dramatic intensity, austerity, light and silence of their creations.

Wednesday 7 MarchJuan Manuel Bonet, art criticHammershøi, a painter of silence

Screening: Master of the House (Du Skal Ære Din Hustru), 1925107’, black and white, silent, Catalan subtitlesFilm-concert session with Danish composer Lars Fjeldmose

Wednesday 14 MarchPere Gimferrer, writerGertrud or plenitude

Screening: Gertrud, 1964, 119’, black and white, Catalan subtitles

Wednesday 21 MarchPilar Pedraza, writer and essayistThe old woman and evil. About Vampyr

Screening: Vampyr, 1932, 62’, black and white, Catalan subtitles

Wednesday 28 MarchCasper Tybjerg, lecturer and Dreyer expertThe President: how Dreyer made his first film

Screening: President (Præsidenten), 1918, 89’black and white, silent, Catalan subtitlesFilm-concert session with composer Carles Robert

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Wednesday 11 AprilMiquel de Palol, writerThe viewpoint as plot

Screening: Day of Wrath (Vredens Dag), 1943, 95’, black and white, Catalan subtitles

Wednesday 18 AprilCarlos Martí, architectFrom expressionism to essentialism

Screening: Michael (Mikaël), 192486’, black and white, silent, Catalan subtitlesFilm-concert session with composer Laura Casaponsa

Wednesday 25 AprilAntoni Marí, poet and essayistThe madman’s turn to speak

Screening: The Word (Ordet), 1954, 126’, black and white, Catalan subtitles

Auditorium of the CCCBAll sessions will be held in the Auditorium of the CCCB and will start at 7.30 p.m.All films will be shown in cinema format.The CCCB reserves the right to change the programme in the event of circumstances beyond its control.

Price: 3.60 € per sessionPass: 17.50 €

Information and registration:Courses Office of the CCCB Montalegre, 5 / 08001 Barcelona933 064 133cursos@cccb.org www.cccb.org

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7.- BIOGRAPHIES OF VILHELM HAMMERSHØI AND CARL THEODOR DREYER

VILHELM HAMMERSHØI

Vilhelm Hammershøi was born on 15 May 1864 in Copenhagen. His parents were Frederikke, née Rentzmann, and the merchant Christian Hammershøi. Hammershøi began to draw and received tuition from the age of 8.

In 1879, Hammershøi was accepted at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He remained a student at the Academy until spring 1884, with Frederik Vermehren amongst his teachers.

In 1883 Hammershøi became a student at The Free Arts Schools with Peder Severin Krøyer as his teacher. Krøyer remarked to his colleague Kristian Zahrtmann: "I have a student whose paintings are rather strange. I don't understand him, but I think he’s going to be important so I'm trying not to influence him".

Hammershøi made his debut at Charlottenborg's Spring Exhibition in 1885 with Portrait of a Young Girl (fig. 30). The picture caused a great stir as its composition and colouring distinguished itself from the other works at the exhibition.

Another picture, Young Girl Sewing (cat. 3), was rejected by the Charlottenborg exhibition in 1888, and was exhibited instead at an alternative show. However, the following year the picture was awarded a bronze medal at the World Exhibition in Paris. The rejection of Hammershøi’s work in Copenhagen influenced his involvement in setting up “The Free Exhibition” in 1891.

In 1890, Hammershøi became engaged to Ida Ilsted (1869-1949), the sister of Hammershøi's friend, the painter Peter Ilsted. They married and went on honeymoon to Paris. The couple had no children. Throughout the rest of their lives together they travelled widely, London was a particular favourite. Here they visited their friend, the concert pianist Leonard Borwick.

In 1893, Hammershøi painted his first monumental work, the large, symbolic Artemis (The Danish National Gallery). The work received mixed reviews, but the young Symbolist painters were enthusiastic.

In autumn 1898, the couple moved to a flat at Strandgade 30, where they lived until 1909. During this period Hammershøi painted a number of interiors from the flat. He painted very few pictures during his many foreign trips, but the simply furnished rooms in his home were a major source of inspiration. Hammershøi often spent the summers outside the city, where he painted landscapes.

In 1900 the first retrospective exhibition of Hammershøi’s work was held at the Copenhagen Art Society. The collector, and Hammershøi’s patron, Alfred Bramsen compiled the first directory of Hammershøi's works to tie in with the exhibition.

At the international art exhibition in Rome in 1911, Hammershøi was awarded first prize of 10,000 lire, and as a result was encouraged by the Uffizis to paint a self- portrait for their collection.

On 13 February 1916, Hammershøi died after a long illness. He was buried at Vestre Kirkegård in Copenhagen.

CARL THEODOR DREYER

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Carl Theodor Dreyer was born on 3 February 1889 in Copenhagen. His mother was a Swedish housemaid, Josephine Nilsson; the identity of his father is unknown. Just after his second birthday, he was adopted by the typographer Carl Theodor Dreyer and his wife Inger Marie, née Olsen.

In 1910, after a working in a number of office jobs, Dreyer became a newspaper reporter, specialising in aviation, and he qualified as a balloon pilot. He also wrote irreverent articles about the celebrities of the time.

In 1911, he married Ebba Larsen. They had a daughter, Gunni, in 1913, and a son, Erik, in 1923.

In 1912 Dreyer sold his first film script and the following year was hired by Nordisk Films Kompagni, where he worked as a script consultant and writer, and film editor.

While at Nordisk, Dreyer made his debut as a film director with The President (Præsidenten), which premiered in 1919. Between then and 1926, he made a further seven films for Danish, Swedish, German, and Norwegian companies. He was very successful in Denmark with Once upon a Time (Der var engang, 1922) and in France with Master of the House (Du Skal Ære Din Hustru, 1925).

In 1927 he made his most ambitious film, La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, in France. The premiere took place the following year, but it did not receive the expected acclaim. In 1930 he made his first 'talkie', Vampyr, with funding from a wealthy patron. After extensive work on the film soundtrack, it premiered in 1932.

Dreyer's film career ground to a halt and he was forced to earn a living as a law reporter for the Berlingske Tidende newspaper. In 1940 his friend, Ebbe Neergaard published the first book about him, Carl Theodor Dreyer: A Film Director's Work.

In 1942 Dreyer returned to film-making after a 10-year break. Following the premiere of Day of Wrath (Vredens Dag) in 1943, Dreyer travelled to Sweden where he made another film, Two people (Två månniskor, 1945). In the years following the occupation he directed a number of short films; at the same time he was working on his epic work about Jesus, which never came to fruition.

In 1952 Dreyer was awarded a state grant to direct the Dagmar Cinema in Copenhagen; the income from this brought him financial security until his death.

At the Venice film festival in 1955, Dreyer was awarded first prize for his film The Word (Ordet), which became a major success. His last film, Gertrud (1964) was highly controversial, but won the Danish Bodil prize as the year's best film.

Carl Theodor Dreyer died on 20th March 1968. He was buried at Frederiksberg Kirkegård in Copenhagen.

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8.- CURRICULA VITAE OF THE EXHIBITION CURATORS

Jordi Balló

Jordi Balló is a lecturer in audiovisual communication at the Pompeu Fabra University and Head of Exhibitions at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona. He is the author of various books, including La llavor immortal and Jo ja he estat aquí, 2006 Serra d’Or Critics Prize (both written jointly with Xavier Pérez), and Imatges del silenci. He supervises the master’s degree course on creative documentaries at the UPF, promoting films such as Mones com la Becky, De nens and Veinte años no es nada, all three directed by Joaquim Jordà; En construcción by José Luis Guerin; Cravan vs Cravan by Isaki Lacuesta and El cielo gira by Mercedes Alvarez. He received the 2005 National Culture Prize (Film category) awarded by the Generalitat de Catalunya Catalan autonomous government.

Anne-Birgitte Fonsmark (Born 1950)

Art historian and director of Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen since 1995. Anne-Birgitte Fonsmark has particularly focused on Gauguin as an Impressionist and was, together with Richard R. Bretell, curator of the exhibition Gauguin and Impressionism in 2005 as well as author of the book on Gauguin published at Yale University Press in conjunction with the exhibition. Anne-Birgitte Fonsmark has curated several exhibitons especially concentrating on French 19th century art and is also a specialist in the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi. Anne-Birgitte Fonsmark was organiser of the Vilhelm Hammershøi exhibitions at Ordrupgaard, Musée d'Orsay in Paris and the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1997-98.

Annette Rosenvold Hvidt (Born 1963)

Art historian with specialty: French and Danish 19th century art. Annette Rosenvold Hvidt has in scholarly publications focused on the relations between visuality in film and painting with suggestions to read French Salon Painting and its suspenseful classicism through Hitchcock and Buñuel. Since 2003 curator at Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen.

Casper Tybjerg (born 1968)

Associate Professor of Film Studies at the Department of Media, Cognition and Communication at the University of Copenhagen, where he has been study director until recently. He has written extensively on Carl Th. Dreyer and Danish silent cinema, and he has recorded audio commentaries for three of Dreyer's films: La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, Michael, and Day of Wrath.

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9.- THE ARCHITECTURE PROJECT FOR THE EXHIBITION

A stream of nouns such as light, drama, radicalness, silence, austerity, simplicity, immateriality, melancholy, continence, mystery, introversion, sadness, dryness and atmosphere opens perceptive doors to Hammershøi in the light of Dreyer. It goes without saying that they are opposed to commotion in all forms. In order to reinforce the magic that surrounds these two artists, the exhibition seeks to find spaces in which measure (either not too many or alone), material (and immaterial) quality and the LIGHT (which lights the painting like a sequence), intensify the expressive capacity of the works.

RCR ARQUITECTES

Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta qualified as architects in 1987 and have worked together since 1988, now under the name RCR ARQUITECTES, in their hometown of Olot. They were awarded the 2005 National Culture Prize for Architecture by the Generalitat de Catalunya.

Since 1989, they have been the consultant architects for the Natural Park of La Garrotxa Volcanic Area and lecturers in urbanism and landscape architecture (1989-2001, Vilalta) and Projects (1992-2004, Pigem), as well as writing essays about architecture and landscape.

They have won various competitions (the most recent, Hofheide crematorium in Belgium) and received awards for their work (the latest, the FAD prize for the pavilions at the Les Cols restaurant in Olot) which have been shown at various exhibitions (the most recent, “On-Site: New Architecture in Spain” in New York and Madrid) and published (the most recent monographic, Arhitectura no. 46 in Romania).

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10.- GENERAL INFORMATION

DATES

25 January – 1 May 2007, CCCB - Barcelona

OPENING TIMES

Tuesday to Sunday: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.Closed: Mondays (except public holidays)

PRICES

Admission: 4.40 € / 3.30 € (Concessions)Free admission: under-16s, the unwaged, Friends of the CCCB and the first Wednesday of the monthConcessions on Wednesdays (except public holidays) and for senior citizens and students.

Ticket sales at the ticket desk of the CCCB, branches of Caixa Catalunya and from the Tel-Entrada ticket sales service on 902 10 12 12

GUIDED VISITS TO THE EXHIBITIONS

Tuesday to Friday, at 6 p.m., and Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays at 11.30 a.m.

FURTHER INFORMATION

CCCB – www.cccb.org

PRESS SERVICE OF THE CCCB

Mònica Muñoz – Ana SánchezMontalegre, 5 – 08001 Barcelona 93 306 41 23 / 93 306 41 00premsa@cccb.org www.cccb.org

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