Biography
Harald Frederik Foss was an accomplished Danish landscape painter who spent more than half a century depicting the lakes, heathlands and rolling countryside of Jutland. His paintings are remarkably quiet and often feature roads disappearing between hills, lakes stretching towards distant horizons and enormous skies hanging above expanses of heath. Humans appear occasionally, but are usually swamped by nature.
He was born Harald Frederik Voss in Fredericia in 1843, the son of customs assistant Hans Vilhelm Voss and Vilhelmine Sofie Støckelbach.
His father later adopted the surname Foss. As a young man, he initially followed a rather different path and undertook an apprenticeship at a pharmacy in Skanderborg. It didn't last however and in 1861, aged 18, he travelled to Copenhagen intending to become an artist.
With assistance from landscape painter Godtfred Rump, he entered the studio of Vilhelm Kyhn (1819-1903), one of the leading Danish landscape painters of the 19th century. From 1863, he also studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen.
Kyhn would become an important influence, and Foss remained in contact throughout his career. He was even permitted to work in Kyhn's garden studio during the winter months. Their relationship instilled in Foss an approach to landscape painting based upon close observation - and what his biographer described as a love and reverence for nature. It would remain his guiding principle.
Foss made his Charlottenborg debut in 1865 and two years later received both the Sødring Encouragement Prize and a travelling scholarship from the Academy. By then, he was already exploring the Jutland countryside that would provide him with subjects for the remainder of his life.
A letter written by Godtfred Rump to P. C. Skovgaard in May 1867 provides a glimpse of the young artist at work. Rump was then at Tyrsbæk near Vejle searching for a suitable landscape motif. Considering a move towards Mariager, he remarked that Foss was believed to be somewhere in the area and that he had attempted to contact him for information. Foss was just 23 at the time. Already, it seems, he was becoming familiar with Jutland.
Between 1870 and 1871, he lived with another major Danish landscape painter, P. C. Skovgaard, and worked under his supervision. Yet Kyhn remained the decisive influence upon his artistic outlook. This relationship became particularly important at Ry, near the lakes and hills surrounding Himmelbjerget.
From the early 1870s, Kyhn regularly spent his summers there, and a small community of artists gradually formed around him. Foss was among its principal members, together with painters including Pauline Thomsen, Godfred Christensen, Hans Smidth, Hermann Siegumfeldt and others. They travelled, worked and socialised together while searching the surrounding countryside for motifs.
Surviving photographs provide an intimate record of this community. In one, Kyhn and Foss stand together with Pauline Thomsen, Hermann Siegumfeldt and Carl Møller, their painting equipment carried with them into the countryside. Another shows Kyhn seated before his easel while Foss stands immediately behind him. It's difficult to imagine a more literal image of the relationship between master and pupil.
Yet Foss gradually developed a landscape language recognisably his own, and he was particularly attracted to broad, undulating country. The heathlands around Ry and Rebild, the Silkeborg lakes and the great expanses of Jutland allowed him to construct paintings from winding tracks, overlapping hills, irregular shorelines and distant horizons. Straight lines rarely interested him.
Instead, Foss encouraged the eye to travel through a landscape. A path curls around a hillside and disappears. A valley opens between banks of heather. A lake carries the gaze towards a remote shore. Hills rise, fall and overlap until they dissolve into distance.
The true subjects are space, weather and the experience of being outdoors. A great expanse of sky gives the landscape air. Distant hills establish how far we can see. Tracks and valleys establish how far we might walk. A tiny sail or solitary figure occasionally provides scale, but the sensation of openness remains paramount.
An Academy scholarship enabled Foss to undertake a substantial journey abroad between 1879 and 1881, travelling through Germany and Italy and eventually reaching Paris. Other painters associated with Kyhn had already encountered newer French methods, yet Foss remained unmoved by them. His biographer specifically noted that the new art he encountered in Paris held no attraction for him. He saw artistic fashions changing, including the work of the Impressionists, but chose not to follow them.
For more than fifty years, he continued to exhibit at Charlottenborg while remaining committed to the Danish landscape tradition in which he had been formed. In 1888 and 1889 he received the Academy's annual medals and subsequently became a member of its plenary assembly. In 1901 he was appointed titular professor. He also became a teacher himself. Foss eventually continued Kyhn's painting school for women, extending another aspect of his mentor's legacy.
Foss married Anna Elisabeth Christine Holcha Hansen in 1874. She died in 1881, leaving him a widower. Their son Gunnar Foss later became an organist and composer. In 1894, Foss married the painter Petra Frederikke Fischer.
His attachment to the Jutland landscape never diminished.
Among his best-known works are Hedevej near Hadsund and From Mariager Fjord, both dating from 1867, Lyngbakker near Ry of 1887 and The Fog Lifts Over the Forests at Himmelbjerget, Early Autumn Morning of 1895. His landscapes entered the national collection as well as numerous provincial museums during his lifetime.
Known For
Landscape painting, particularly expansive views of the Jutland heathlands, hills and lakes around Ry, Himmelbjerget, Silkeborg and Rebild. His works are characterised by broad vistas, winding contours, extensive skies and restrained staffage, with human activity generally subordinated to the landscape itself.
Student Of
- Vilhelm Kyhn (1819-1903)
- P. C. Skovgaard (1817-1875)
- Foss entered Kyhn's studio in 1861 and remained particularly close to him. During the winter of 1870–71, he lived with P. C. Skovgaard and worked under his supervision.
Lived In
- Fredericia
- Copenhagen / Frederiksberg
- Foss also spent considerable periods painting in Jutland, particularly around Ry and the central Jutland lake country.
Public Collections
- Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
- ARoS Aarhus Art Museum
- Museum Odense / Funen Art Museum
- Randers Art Museum
- The Royal Collection of Graphic Art, Copenhagen
- Also represented in numerous Danish regional museum collections.
Timeline
1843
Born Harald Frederik Voss in Fredericia on 21 August, the son of customs assistant Hans Vilhelm Voss and Vilhelmine Sofie Støckelbach.
1861
Abandoned an apprenticeship in a pharmacy at Skanderborg and travelled to Copenhagen to pursue a career as an artist.
With the assistance of Godtfred Rump, entered the studio of landscape painter Vilhelm Kyhn.
1863-1869
Studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen while continuing his development as a landscape painter.
1865
Made his debut at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition.
He would exhibit there regularly for more than half a century.
1867
Received the Sødring Encouragement Prize and the Academy's domestic travelling scholarship. Painted several important early Jutland landscapes, including Hedevej near Hadsund, From Mariager Fjord and Rebild Bakker. A letter from Godtfred Rump to P. C. Skovgaard records Foss travelling and working around the Mariager region.
1870-1871
Lived with P. C. Skovgaard and worked under his guidance.
1870s
Became closely associated with the community of landscape painters gathering around Vilhelm Kyhn at Ry and Himmelbjerget.
Foss, Pauline Thomsen and other younger painters repeatedly joined Kyhn
in the region, forming what became known as the artists' colony at Ry.
1874
Married Anna Elisabeth Christine Holcha Hansen.
1879-1881
Undertook an extended European study journey with support from an Academy scholarship, travelling through Germany and Italy and visiting Paris on his return. Despite encountering newer artistic developments, Foss remained committed to the Danish landscape tradition associated with Kyhn.
1881
His first wife, Anna, died.
1887
Painted Lyngbakker near Ry, subsequently acquired for the Danish national collection.
1888-1889
Received the Academy's annual medal in successive years and became a member of its plenary assembly.
1894
Married painter Petra Frederikke Fischer.
1895
Painted The Fog Lifts Over the Forests at Himmelbjerget, Early Autumn Morning, now in the collection of Statens Museum for Kunst.
1901
Appointed titular professor.
Early 20th Century
Continued Vilhelm Kyhn's painting school for women artists.
Foss also taught the young Knud Kyhn, Vilhelm Kyhn's nephew, before his admission to the Royal Danish Academy.
1914
Represented particularly extensively at the Association for National Art's exhibition, with approximately fifty works.
1918
Received a royal appointment/honour recorded in his Danish biography.
1922
A retrospective exhibition of Foss's work opened under the auspices of the Association for National Art. He died at Frederiksberg on 15 February, only a few days after its opening. The exhibition consequently became a memorial to the artist. He was buried at Vestre Cemetery in Copenhagen.