Aarhus University Press Books

'A lover of light': in 1912, a French critic used these words to describe the great Danish painter Peder Severin Kroyer, who had close ties to the French art scene for more than two decades. Kroyer first visited Paris in 1877, and his many letters clearly show the impact French art had on Kroyer's own development as a painter, on the artists' colony in Skagen, and on Danish art history in general. In Kroyer and Paris. French Connections and Nordic Colours , art historians Mette Harbo Lehmann and Dominique Lobstein describe Kroyer's artistic development from the Golden Age tradition favoured by the Danish academy to Naturalism and the Modern Breakthrough. They show how inspiration from France can be traced in his painting technique and his open-air paintings from Skagen, revealing how French Naturalism made its mark on Kroyer's distinctive style.

Focusing on the intersection of war and festivity, this work offers a transcription and translation of a 16th-century manuscript by Rudolf von Deventer, an artillery expert for Danish King Frederik II. It details firearm production for defense against enemies and fireworks for entertainment, featuring vibrant illustrations of battle scenes and mechanical devices. This text provides a unique glimpse into Northern European military technology and cultural practices during the Early Modern period, complemented by insights from historian Pamela H. Smith.

The majority of Malevich's drawings and manuscripts only exist today thanks to the efforts of Anna Aleksandrovna Leporskaya (1900-1982). The present study reconstructs the outlines of this unique collection and of Leporskaya's and Malevich's own registration of the drawings, undertaken in 1926.