Johan Markussen

Adam Johan Isboseth Markussen (born October 10, 1906 in Narsaq , † March 2, 1994 ) was a Greenlandic artist .

Life

Johan Markussen was the son of the hunter Barnabas Josef Markus and his wife Føbe Bibia Karen Eva. On October 15, 1926, he married in Qaqortoq Nikoline Proba Malene Magdalene Poulsen (1899–1974), daughter of the hunter Isboseth Thor Esajas Simon Poulsen and his wife Kirsten Ruth Inger Elisabeth.

Johan Markussen traditionally grew up as a hunter, but was then taught to be a cooper. He lost his thumb in an accident and had to stop working. In the late 1950s he started carving tupilaat and other figures. So he first came into contact with art in old age, before he devoted himself to painting around 1970. Originally he used bicycle varnish to paint on masonite , materials that he could easily acquire. Around 1990 he switched to acrylic paints for health reasons .

He had never received any artistic training and so his works are considered naive art . In his paintings you can see scenes from traditional Greenlandic life. Some figures go kayaking or umiak , while others cut up captured seals. His works radiate liveliness and cheerfulness and are mostly kept close to nature in gray-blue, ocher and green. In addition, he also drew and described the traditional way of life of the Greenlanders, usually with several separate but thematically related drawings on one sheet. He often drew people into the picture as observers of the scenery. Although many of his drawings are realistic, others deviate from them and have surrealist traits associated with the mythology of the Greenlanders. Although Johan Markussen's art is seen as very independent from the art of others, there are still some parallels to other artists. His figures are similar to those of Kârale Andreassen , the way of removing walls from houses to depict what is happening in them, is similar to that of Aron von Kangeq , but he also used Bible motifs and artistic references to Donald Duck .

In addition to his paintings, drawings and carvings made of wood, soapstone and bones, he also wrote some poems. His works are exhibited in the Narsaq Museum , the Narsaq School and the Greenland National Museum. They have also been exhibited in several locations in Greenland, Denmark and Stockholm .

Johan Markussen died in 1994 at the age of 87. He was the great-uncle of the artists Buuti Pedersen (* 1955) and Nuka K. Godtfredsen (* 1970).

literature

• Kirsten Larsen Egede: Ujuaangivasik - Johan Markussen . Atuakkiorfik, 2003, ISBN 978-87-558-1795-1 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Church registers Qaqortoq 1903–1908 (Born boys p. 13)
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Biography in Weilbach's artist dictionary
3. ↑ For 30 år siden in the Atuagagdliutit of February 9, 1983
4. ^ Johan Markussen (1906-1994) Ujuaangivasik on the Nuuk Art Museum website