In collaboration with Lövendahl, Zakarian created and curated BLACKLANDS:
a group exhibition focusing on the color black.
This interview series continues directing the spotlight at fascinating artists working with the darkest shades.
Sublime Nature Drawings and Traditional Printmaking: Inken Stabell
30 May 2024
Unleashing the Dark Feminine through Bewitching Photography : Nona Limmen
22 July 2024Artist Interview
Xenia von Buchwald
The Timeless Beauty in Classical Figurative Art
Interview by Mariam Zakarian, June 2024.
Interviewet findes også på dansk.
What initially attracted me to drawing was how it’s possible to capture someone’s likeness and to convey their emotion on paper. It seemed like magic to me. I spent years of my life studying faces, figures, trying to understand the similarities and differences in the proportions of human features, getting familiar with the anatomy that makes it possible to accurately depict the subtlest of expressions. This challenge has always interested artists.
Figurative Art is described as “any form of modern art that retains strong references to the real world and particularly to the human figure.”(1) Although we may think of antique, Greek statues, or Renaissance paintings when considering classical, figurative art, there are still a great number of artists today who devote their lives to this subject. They are just not that visible in the contemporary art world.
The State of Classical, Figurative Art in Denmark
Sofia Steinmetz is Chair of a new organization in Denmark called The Artist Association for Figurative and Contemporary Realism, KFKR, which aims to bring together artists working towards a high level of craftsmanship.
Traditionally, artists used to study at academies for 7-8 years, according to Steinmetz, but today, this is simply not available. There are very few places in Denmark, such as The Drawing Academy in Viborg, which offer an education in classical, academic realism, and if the student wants to continue their education or to pursue a career in this subject, they will encounter a dead end in Denmark, forcing them to travel abroad to study at academies in e.g. Florence or St. Petersburg.
“That level of education gave us some of Denmark’s finest and best-known artists: Thorvaldsen, Eckersberg, Jerichau-Baumann, Skagensmalerne etc,” says Steinmetz. “Currenty, you can study to become a classical orchestra musician, opera singer or ballet dancer, but you cannot study classical art or figurative realism at a high level in Denmark.”
Steinmetz stresses the importance of preserving this rich heritage and tradition, particularly in a time of AI-generated images, hyperconsumerism and climate crisis. “There is important knowledge in the older crafts, which plays into a very relevant ecological and sustainable way of thinking. The question is: Do you produce art for the moment or do you produce art with the next 100 years in mind? In my opinion, this is precisely what our type of art does best: It slows down the pace and increases the quality.”
Even from a purely commercial point of view, it still makes sense to preserve the classical traditions. The highest priced painting in the world is currently “Salvator Mundi”, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, created in the 1500s. The most famous is arguably the “Mona Lisa” by the same artist. Both are classical, figurative paintings with techniques that the artist spent the majority of his life on studying, refining and innovating since age 14 when he began attending the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, a leading artist at the time. (2)
So why is it that this kind of art is so rare to find in contemporary art galleries in Denmark?
This month’s artist: Xenia von Buchwald
Instead of attempting to answer this complicated question, I hope that this month’s artist interview inspires you, dear reader, to immerse yourself in the figurative art of Xenia von Buchwald.
I find it so satisfying to look at artworks that are so masterfully executed and which contain so much subtle feeling.
Consider this portrait titled Sebastian from 2018, for example. The shadows and light draped across the man’s features, concealing just enough to make you curious. The eyes are lowered, the head slightly tilted as if considering something, or observing. Is that a ghost of a slight frown? Is he content? Sorrowful? Is he in deep concentration, thinking about something important? In the middle of work, immersed in flow? Or perhaps about to speak? And if he was, what would he say?
The play between shadows and light is so convincing that it almost feels like Sebastian is breathing there, behind all the grain of the paper. That any moment now, he will look up.
Xenia von Buchwald’s artworks contain a calmness that is difficult to describe. Here we have an artist and an architect, someone who is classically trained, who has taught art courses herself, and where the confidence in depicting the real is palpable.
And yet, the artworks never become stiff. The subjects don’t simply sit on the paper, mechanically perfected, but they come alive with the stylistic freedoms she chooses.
She breaks with tradition in subtle, but significant ways, not sticking to a single technique. Instead of painting every feather on a bird, she chooses to hide it behind thicker brush strokes, making the tragic image even more melancholic.
Instead of showing every vein in the marble bust of St.Gerome, she instead focuses on showing the shapes illuminated by the light, resulting in a haunting image of a floating head with pale eyes.
There is a timelessness to these pieces, a satisfying feeling of looking at something that is easy to recognize, saturated with undebatable skill, and, importantly, emotion.
Read on to understand the work of the artist, in her own words.
"[T]he most interesting works are those which have some element of naiveté and are not too obviously intellectualized or technically perfect."
- Xenia von Buchwald
Q: Does your work arise intellectually or intuitively? Do you work from a philosophy or artist statement?
Xenia von Buchwald: It is very important to me to follow my interests and I rely mostly on my intuition. I draw what I find beautiful and poetic at the moment. I find the most interesting works are those which have some element of naiveté and are not too obviously intellectualized or technically perfect.
I believe a statement can change over time and should follow the work and I like to look back and reflect on the work once in a while. I write down themes and ideas. Words that I keep in the back of my head, following my intuition it will show through.
Q: Have you gone to art school or taken courses? When and why did you start drawing the way you do now?
I loved to paint and draw as a child. Eventually I decided to pursue a career in architecture. During my studies I was very interested in the play of shadow and light and creating atmospheres.
After finishing my Master’s Degree I decided to study classical drawing and painting and finished my first year at The Florence Academy of Art in Sweden in 2013. It deeply influenced my work and pushed my artistic boundaries. Around that time something shifted. I now had the technical tools to express my ideas more clearly and carry my interest for atmosphere into figurative work and exploring human connections. I got familiar with art history and my aesthetic transformed in a more classical direction.
After finishing my education I moved to Svendborg, Denmark, to study with the artist Charles Weed for two years, which further developed my technique.
Q: Studying with more established artists used to be common practice once. How has it been for you to study with Charles Weed?
It has been a very enriching experience to add to my formal training at the academy. While the time at the academy was very focused on drawing and painting from life and capturing the visual impression more directly, my mentorship has offered something different. It was more focused on picture making and using my imagination as well as the technical aspect of different ways to build up a painting.
It has given me an insight into ways to use different materials and mediums, and an encouragement to experiment with different approaches to starting a painting, painting more indirectly, and developing my own aesthetic.
Charles is a very generous and kind person who is genuinely interested in the craft.
Q: If you could choose to study with any artist from history, who would it be and why?
Bronzino, because of his way of capturing the luminosity of skin. He also seems like a fun guy!
"I feel a deeper connection to the subject
when working from life."
- Xenia von Buchwald
Q: What does your work process look like?
It usually starts from a visual input, often a sculpture or a painting that I am inspired by or a scene in nature. I take a lot of notes on composition, colour combinations and the atmosphere and mood I intend to express.
To finish a piece takes from a week to months or even years. I like to have several ongoing projects at the same time, and make some of them rest for a long time before I continue.
Q: Some seem to believe that classical art belongs in the past and that it's no longer interesting. What is it about drawing from real life, which you find appealing?
Working from life offers you all the subtle nuances in values, hue and temperature that exist in nature and are hard to capture in a photograph. It also offers another kind of challenge, with the constant changes, especially when working from natural light.
Instead of chasing the constant changes, it forces you to make artistic choices, which transforms the picture into something different. I feel a deeper connection to the subject when working from life.
Q: It's rare to see this kind of art in contemporary, Danish galleries anymore. Do you think it will come back?
There are already a few galleries in the other Nordic countries that focus on classical realism, so I can absolutely see it coming back into the Danish galleries.
Q: Who and/or what are your main influences?
When searching for inspiration I look mostly at painters from the past. I like to visit museums and study their work in person. I take notes on composition, technique and narrative. My influences change, but the artists I always come back to are those where I can feel a true emotional intent, where I can feel the intimacy and a deep connection to the narrative. The work of Eugène Carrière and Käthe Kollwitz comes to mind.
I also love sculpture, especially Auguste Rodin, the reliefs of Leonardo Bistolfi and Donatello, and the Danish sculptor Rudolph Tegner.
For colours I am very inspired by the tonalist painters, especially the calm atmospheric landscapes by Dwight William Tryon and James Abbott McNeill Whistler. And the Italian Renaissance painters. Bronzino, Titian, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci to name a few.
Q: How do you feel about the commercial aspect of art? Do you exhibit and sell your artworks in galleries?
My work is very personal and keeping my integrity as an artist is very important to me. Selling my artworks is secondary. That said, I can see the value in selling and exhibiting, having deadlines and pushing myself, depending on my availability.
"[Black and white] creates an abstraction,
a space for imagination..."
- Xenia von Buchwald
Q: Why do you choose to use black and white in your work?
It creates an abstraction, a space for imagination and it has a calmness around it. It also simplifies the process and lets me focus on the light effect and the atmosphere, light and shadow. The value relationships are very important and should work by themselves without the use of colour. Then comes hue and temperature. If the values are off, it distracts from the big impression.
I do love colours and when working with colours I lean towards a more muted calm palette. I like to look at tonalist painters for inspiration.
Q: Do you draw in silence or listen to something?
I find that I focus best in silence. If I listen to music it is mostly instrumental. I love medieval and renaissance music and chamber music. I also listen to various podcasts, but nothing too intense. It all depends on my mood and the project I am working on.
Q: And finally, why do you create art?
I create art for the sake of creating art. I simply enjoy the process of creating something and like to challenge myself.
Find more of Xenia von Buchwald‘s work on Instagram, and on her Website.
Check out last month’s artist interview with Inken Stabell about realistic drawings of landscapes and seascapes, created via traditional hand-printing methods.
And to jump from realism to hyperrealism, read the interview with sculptor Esben Horn
