Wednesday, 28 July 2010

1 Artist, 1 Model, 5 Paintings, 24 Covers

The Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916) is most celebrated for his series of interior paintings, many of which featured his wife, Ida, seen from behind. Cold, spare, quiet and intriguing, they are the perfect representation of a certain gloomy domesticity. They are also very frequently used on book covers.

Here are just five of the paintings, spread over 24 books. I've left out of this selection any books that are specifically about Hammershøi himself.

'Interior, Strandgade 30'



'Interior with Woman at Piano, Strandgade 30'



'Interior, Strandgade 30'



'Interior with Young Woman from Behind'



'In a Room with a Piano and a Woman in Black'

 


And, just for interest, here's Ida herself, looking forward for once.
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30 comments:

  1. Happy Flower28 July 2010 at 16:48

    What a great post. Informative. Had good giggle at disconnect between optimism and the lone(ly) figure. Perhaps meant ironically? Would have thought an art history book might have spurred more imaginative cover. Thanks for frontal view of Ida. Now know where to come to find a book cover.

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  2. Patrick Murtha28 July 2010 at 19:09

    Hammershoi was one of the greatest painters and most distinctive stylists of his time. Yet his name frequently draws a blank from otherwise informed people, so it is good to see your post.

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  3. Anonymous28 July 2010 at 19:46

    All the paintings seem sad. Then the las photograph (it is a photo, right?) seems even bleaker.

    I can tell she's frowning even when she's turned away from me.

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  4. Óscar Palmer29 July 2010 at 01:03

    What an impressive array! I think this one is my "One image many covers" favorite post so far. Cheers.

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  5. JRSM29 July 2010 at 02:08

    Patrick: My pleasure. And I had the benefit, in researching this, of finding more Hammershoi paintings that I hadn't seen before.

    Christy: Definitely a photo--they have a very Scandinavian chilly sadness.

    Óscar: Thank you!

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  6. Anonymous29 July 2010 at 03:09

    I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future from PINOY EXPREZ WEBSITES

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  7. Anne H29 July 2010 at 08:38

    Who can blame them? Hammershoi ROCKS. Here's another one -- same room, but empty:

    http://www.amazon.com/Wakefulness-Poems-John-Ashbery/dp/0374525935/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1

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  8. MrIndieDay29 July 2010 at 09:51

    I would've never guessed there was such an alluring world behind book covers. This is easily the most unique blog I've run into.

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  9. Paul Maitrejean29 July 2010 at 10:41

    I'm still laughing at the thought of how much money Hammershoi must have made from a single picture/theme if it appeared on the covers of so many books.

    It's laughable and almost wrong.

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  10. Anonymous29 July 2010 at 11:29

    nice blog! and interesting! please follow mine at http://jenniferscavone.blogspot.com/

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  11. Hmmm29 July 2010 at 12:42

    A great post, very informative. There's something very eerie and haunting about those pictures, makes me a bit uneasy, probably because we are looking at her back, so to speak, not her face... One of my favourite posts. Good one! :)

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  12. Unknown29 July 2010 at 12:46

    The mood of the paintings remind me of Edward Hopper. Thanks for posting and introducing me to a new (old) very interesting and talented artist.

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  13. Den luttrade bibliotekarien29 July 2010 at 13:17

    And here is another one by the swedish author Elin Boardy
    http://bokbilder.bok.bonnier.se/visabok.aspx?isbn=9789146219224

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  14. JRSM29 July 2010 at 15:39

    Thank you, all. And Anne H and Den luttrade bibliotekarien, I had missed both of those covers. I'll see if I can find any other books that use those paintings.

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  15. Jess the Chipster29 July 2010 at 19:55

    there's such a moodiness and sense of an untold life in his paintings that just work so well as intriguing book covers.

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  16. Anonymous30 July 2010 at 02:17

    I like pretty much your Post, is interesting spy the diagrammer's job.I didn't know the painter, thanks for the cultural point and sorry for my English.

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  17. Meytal Radzinski30 July 2010 at 03:32

    I like the images. I'd have liked the images on one (maybe two) covers a little more, though. 24 very similar, somewhat nondescript covers? Can't we do better?

    Oh well. I guess it could be lots of covers with bad pictures. At least Hammershoi's paintings are creepily cool...

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  18. the Tsaritsa30 July 2010 at 19:20

    Wow! It's funny how a single image can be interpreted in so many ways and be molded to fit such diverse subjects.

    Nice post!

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  19. H1 August 2010 at 05:25

    Shouldn't the book designers have had a little more imagination, instead of just Googling the word "desolate" or something similar, and then taken the top image hit? Interesting stuff.

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  20. Sarah Johnson1 August 2010 at 08:44

    That's quite something! I collect duplicate book cover images for historical fiction and am fascinated by how often paintings get reused for cover designs. For this one, here's one more example that can be added (from Ann Turnbull's No Shame, No Fear, a young adult novel).

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  21. L.1 August 2010 at 10:59

    Here's another one: The Picture of Dorian Gray / The Collector of coins http://images.buch.de/images-adb/96/bd/96bd7e1b-96d6-4706-be4c-ccce86bd6313.jpg

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  22. Anonymous1 August 2010 at 18:43

    Also: check out the forthcoming NYRB Classics edition of Theodor Fontane's novel Irretrievable.

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  23. JRSM1 August 2010 at 22:22

    Thank you for all of the suggestions of extra Hammershoi covers. i think part 2 is in order!

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  24. Henna @ AboutDivorce Blog1 August 2010 at 23:32

    i think i have seen all of them at one time or another on some book cover as these type of images are frequently used for imagery and gloom - very common

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  25. Ron @ DubaiFunHolidays1 August 2010 at 23:33

    hmmm... now i know who designs these thing, i never knew that even on a book cover, people work so hard, great post

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  26. Beverly Brown2 August 2010 at 07:11

    What a great idea for a post. I love how Hammershoi's paintings describe a particular mood, yet leave so much to the viewer's imagination - perfect for book covers.

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  27. John Self3 August 2010 at 07:55

    So... he couldn't do faces, then?

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  28. LockerTalk3 August 2010 at 15:53

    Thats pretty interesting!
    Got a nice ass for an old gal...

    Check out my blog at

    lockertalk1.blogspot.com !!

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  29. A Sideways Girl6 August 2010 at 11:12

    Totally agree with Happy Flower... "The Optimist" - made me laugh. It HAS to be meant ironically... not at all an optimistic looking cover... although the door is open :)

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  30. Anonymous1 September 2015 at 07:38

    Additionally, Ann Turnbull's excellent YA book about a young C17th Quaker woman, 'No Shame, No Fear' - http://www.scholastic.com/content5/media/products/54/9780763625054_xlg.jpg

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