SPECIAL EXHIBITION | Human Comes First – The Astrid Noack Study Collection

For 70 years, the Astrid Noack Foundation has managed the legacy of Danish sculptor Astrid Noack (1888-1954). In 2024 the foundation is transferring this legacy permanently to Holstebro Kunstmuseum; The Astrid Noack's Study Collection. To celebrate this event, we present the collection in its entirety for the first time with the special exhibition Human Comes First - Astrid Noack's Study Collection from 16.11.2024 – 04.05.2025.

The Study Collection of sculptor Astrid Noack (1888-1954) forms the centrepiece for one of the 20th century’s great and unusual figures in Danish art. Born in Ribe, she trained as a wood carver at Vallekilde Folk High School in 1910. In 1935, Noack became the first female member of the experimental art exhibition group Grønningen, in what was then an exception to the rules of the group, and she was a pioneer once again in 2006, though posthumously, when she became the only female artist to be included in the Danish Cultural Canon – all this on the basis of her craftsmanship and uncompromising artistic integrity, as well as her both professional and intuitive understanding of, and fondness for, medieval art and the sculptures of the ancient world. These retrospective connections are transformed by Noack into pure sculpture that is full of intensity: authoritative, but never intrusive. Her sculptures possess an inner movement that bursts constructively upwards through the figure, almost bringing it to life as an enclosed form in the space.

One might at first glance see a contradiction in this coexistence of the form experiments of modernism on the one hand, and the millennial tradition of human sculpture on the other, but this is only apparent. Astrid Noack’s art unites these tendencies so seamlessly in volumes, axes and empathy that she manages not only to revitalise both poles, but also to create a new, third one: one of the most consistent expressions and independent artistic oeuvres in the history of modern Danish sculpture.

The Study Collection

Following Astrid Noack’s death on 26 December 1954, the Astrid Noack Foundation was established to safeguard her artistic legacy as a sculptor. This encompasses both the distribution of the Astrid Noack Scholarship to young Danish sculptors and the management of the artist’s physical legacy. Now, 70 years later, in connection with the ending of the artistic copyright, the Foundation is transferring this legacy permanently to Holstebro Kunstmuseum. This exhibition and the accompanying book publication mark this event.

Holstebro Kunstmuseum already owned 52 listed works by Astrid Noack, and with the addition of the 88 sculptures and 103 drawings that make up the Astrid Noack Study Collection, and which have been in storage at the museum since 1982, together with a rich archive, consisting of the artist’s book collection, a letter archive, workshop books and photographs, Noack’s artistry has now received a permanent home for posterity. All 191 works in the Study Collection can be seen here in the exhibition, along with selected materials from the Noack archives. A large number of the works have been conserved for the occasion of the transfer. 
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