This comprehensive survey is published to coincide with an exhibition of the art of the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864–1916). Hammershøi’s subject-matter centred on haunting interiors. Dispensing with anecdotal detail, he transformed his apartment into a series of disturbingly empty spaces. The same strange stillness can be seen in his portraits, landscapes and city views of his native Copenhagen and of London, in all of which the passage of time appears to have been inexplicably suspended. The book is beautifully illustrated with works that span all stages of Hammershøi’s career, while the essays explore the singularity of his vision, placing his achievement in the context of fin-de-siècle Symbolist art and examining his links with Dutch masters of the seventeenth century.
Book condition: Very good
Publisher : Royal Academy of Arts, London; 1st edition (14 July 2008)
