Photographic self-fashioning. The role of photography in community-formation by the skagen painters

This article looks at a selection of photos from the artists’ colony in Skagen Denmark and argues, that the photographic representations from the colony throughout the 20th century have played a minor role in the Danish art historiography on the subject. The article examines how the group identity a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mette Bøgh Jensen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-12-01
Series:Journal of Aesthetics & Culture
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20004214.2024.2435604
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832086906019512320
author Mette Bøgh Jensen
author_facet Mette Bøgh Jensen
author_sort Mette Bøgh Jensen
collection DOAJ
description This article looks at a selection of photos from the artists’ colony in Skagen Denmark and argues, that the photographic representations from the colony throughout the 20th century have played a minor role in the Danish art historiography on the subject. The article examines how the group identity and the community are depicted in a number of photographs from the 1870s and 1880s, and analyses how these photographs can be viewed as performative acts, which helped bolster the group identity and community-formation. The analysis thus emphasises the importance of the photographic act itself, arguing that the photographs not only function as witnesses to events that have taken place, but that they also convince the viewer of community formation. It is argued that the photographs of communal activities do not only represent a “pastness”, but that they also indicate a present and point to community formation. The empirical material consists of the artists’ accounts of being an artist in an artists’ colony such as anecdotes, letters, eyewitness accounts published in contemporary media and some of the photographs of the artists’ communal activities in the collection of Art Museums of Skagen.
format Article
id doaj-art-2dc18cb0bd5f49d0b8359d7880a79a3e
institution Kabale University
issn 2000-4214
language English
publishDate 2025-12-01
publisher Taylor & Francis Group
record_format Article
series Journal of Aesthetics & Culture
spelling doaj-art-2dc18cb0bd5f49d0b8359d7880a79a3e2025-02-06T08:55:56ZengTaylor & Francis GroupJournal of Aesthetics & Culture2000-42142025-12-0117110.1080/20004214.2024.2435604Photographic self-fashioning. The role of photography in community-formation by the skagen paintersMette Bøgh Jensen0Department of Research and Collection, Skagens Kunstmuseer/Art Museums of Skagen, Skagen, DenmarkThis article looks at a selection of photos from the artists’ colony in Skagen Denmark and argues, that the photographic representations from the colony throughout the 20th century have played a minor role in the Danish art historiography on the subject. The article examines how the group identity and the community are depicted in a number of photographs from the 1870s and 1880s, and analyses how these photographs can be viewed as performative acts, which helped bolster the group identity and community-formation. The analysis thus emphasises the importance of the photographic act itself, arguing that the photographs not only function as witnesses to events that have taken place, but that they also convince the viewer of community formation. It is argued that the photographs of communal activities do not only represent a “pastness”, but that they also indicate a present and point to community formation. The empirical material consists of the artists’ accounts of being an artist in an artists’ colony such as anecdotes, letters, eyewitness accounts published in contemporary media and some of the photographs of the artists’ communal activities in the collection of Art Museums of Skagen.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20004214.2024.2435604Photography19th centurySkagen Painterscommunity formationartists’ colonyperformative acts
spellingShingle Mette Bøgh Jensen
Photographic self-fashioning. The role of photography in community-formation by the skagen painters
Journal of Aesthetics & Culture
Photography
19th century
Skagen Painters
community formation
artists’ colony
performative acts
title Photographic self-fashioning. The role of photography in community-formation by the skagen painters
title_full Photographic self-fashioning. The role of photography in community-formation by the skagen painters
title_fullStr Photographic self-fashioning. The role of photography in community-formation by the skagen painters
title_full_unstemmed Photographic self-fashioning. The role of photography in community-formation by the skagen painters
title_short Photographic self-fashioning. The role of photography in community-formation by the skagen painters
title_sort photographic self fashioning the role of photography in community formation by the skagen painters
topic Photography
19th century
Skagen Painters
community formation
artists’ colony
performative acts
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20004214.2024.2435604
work_keys_str_mv AT mettebøghjensen photographicselffashioningtheroleofphotographyincommunityformationbytheskagenpainters