Aron of Kangeq

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Aron von Kangeq ( Danish Aron fra Kangeq , Greenlandic Aalut Kangermiu ; born April 9, 1822 in Kangeq ; † March 12, 1869 ) was a Greenlandic painter and storyteller .

Life

Missionary work in Greenland (watercolor by Aron von Kangeq)

Aron was born in Kangeq , a now abandoned settlement near today's capital Nuuk . His parents were Christian Heinrich (1801-1859) and Ana Benigna (1798-1875). He had three younger brothers who all died young. In 1843 he married Persita (1824–1897), daughter of Tobias (1787–1837) and Persida (1786–?). From the marriage the son Apollo (1844-1845) emerged, who also died young. His father and grandfather were catechists . Therefore, he grew up in the vicinity of the Moravian Brethren who worked there .

He became a catechist like his father and a sealer on the side, but fell ill with tuberculosis at the age of 30 , so that he could no longer pursue this activity. He started drawing without ever having received any training or instruction. In April 1858, the South Greenland inspector Hinrich Johannes Rink invited the Greenlanders to send him drawings and myths. Samuel Kleinschmidt , who knew Aron, gave Rink one of Aron's works, a view of Kangaamiut , whereby Rink was apparently so enthusiastic that he used him as an illustrator of his collected myths. He sent him paper and pens and in the autumn of 1858 he taught him woodcut . Aron's health improved a little later, but he died in 1869 at the age of 47.

art

Depiction of a mythological scene: a tupilak turns against its creator and harasses his wife.

Aron's artistic talent was mainly recognized and promoted by Hinrich Rink, who also provided him with the necessary materials. Aron also made many woodcuts for Rink, which he used as illustrations in the newspaper Atuagagdliutit , which he founded . But Aron mainly dealt with (mostly small-format) watercolor painting .

Thematically, his work revolves mainly around the representation of old Inuit myths such as the arguments between Inuit and Grænlendingar , magical-mystical content and everyday life in Greenland. With his drawing style he succeeded in depicting the drama, uncomfortability and loneliness of nature and the mysticism of legends. He mostly created his woodcuts with diagonal lines and managed to capture movements in his pictures. Surface and depth played together in his works and his compositions were artistically valuable. Its color scheme was able to reproduce a contrast to the cool blue of nature with strong warm brown. In general, its colors are clear and there are no shadows in its images.

He was also considered a talented storyteller. He rewrote his myths, remaining more narrative than others. While voice and facial expressions are usually lost when writing the stories, Aron was able to better preserve these details through his detailed description of the characters' action and emotions and his attached illustrations.

The importance of Aron was hardly recognized during his lifetime. Above all, however, Hinrich Johannes Rink's wife Signe saw the peculiarity in Aron's non-European art. A riddle is usually Aron's skills, which he had acquired without training. Presumably he had learned the perspective of Jacob Arøe , who worked as a draftsman in Greenland. His experience as a hunter should have helped him with a trained eye. His works have long been disregarded. It was not until the 1960s that Eigil Knuth rediscovered them and helped them to become known and thus let Aron's true meaning come to light. Today he is considered the father of Greenlandic painting. Over 300 watercolors by Aron have been preserved, as well as around 40 woodcuts and 56 manuscripts of stories. His works are in Nuuk and Oslo , where Signe Rink brought them.

literature

  • Helge Christensen: Aron fra Kangeĸ - en grønlandsk billedskærer . Sydgrønlands Bogtrykkeri, Nuuk 1953, OCLC 915177156 .
  • Jenny Fossum Grønn: Aron fra Kangeq (1822–1869) - en skrivende forteller . University of Oslo, Oslo 2001, OCLC 878575378 .
  • Eigil Knuth : Aron of Kangeq - 1822–1869 - The seal hunter who became father of Greenlands art of painting . Dansk National Museum, Copenhagen 1960, OCLC 61554209 .
  • Jørgen Meldgaard: Aron - en af ​​de mærkværdigste billedsamlinger i verden . Dansk National Museum, Copenhagen 1982, ISBN 978-87-480-0433-7 .
  • Kirsten Thisted: Således skriver jeg, Aron. Samlede fortællinger and illustration by Aron from Kangeq . tape 1-2 . Atuakkiorfik, Nuuk 1999, ISBN 978-87-558-1382-3 .

Web links

Commons : Aron of Kangeq  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Jenny Fossum Grønn: Aron of Kangeq . In: Mark Nuttall (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Arctic . Routledge, New York / London 2005, ISBN 978-1-136-78680-8 , pp. 157 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ^ Church books Neu-Herrnhut 1733–1809 and 1809–1900
  3. ↑ a b c biography in Dansk Biografisk Leksikon
  4. ↑ a b c d Entry in Weilbach's artist lexicon
personal data
SURNAME Aron of Kangeq
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aron fra Kangeq (Danish); Aalut Kangermiu (Greenlandic)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greenlandic painter and storyteller
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1822
PLACE OF BIRTH Kangeq
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 1869