Emil Carlsen

Private Collection (acquired directly from the artist circa 1897)

Adelson Galleries, New York (acquired circa 1995)

Acquired from the above in August 1997 by the present owner

New York, Vance Jordan Fine Art, Quiet Magic: The Still-Life Paintings of Emil Carlsen, 1999, no. 13

Kim Lykke Jensen, Soren Emil Carlsen: The Hammershoi of Manhattan, Gylling, Denmark, 2008, p. 39, fig. 21, illustrated in color

Executed circa 1897, Violets by Emil Carlsen presents a delicate bouquet of deep purple blossoms arranged in a clear glass vase against a radiant yellow backdrop. Born in Copenhagen and later emigrating to the United States at the age of nineteen, Carlsen initially trained as an architect before turning to painting, deeply influenced by the quiet restraint and tonal harmony of eighteenth-century French master Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. At the time he created Violets, Carlsen was living on the East Coast and teaching at several prominent institutions, including the National Academy of Design, the Art Students League, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he formed lasting relationships with fellow artists such as John Twachtman and Julian Alden Weir. This composition exemplifies Carlsen’s remarkable sensitivity as a still-life painter, uniting precision of form and vibrancy of color to produce an image that honors his artistic forebears while asserting his own refined, distinctly modern vision.