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Beer In Art #70: Erik Henningsen’s The Art Critics

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art-beer
Today’s work of art is by Danish artist Erik Ludvig Henningsen, who created the iconic Thirsty Man for Tuborg in 1900. Henningsen, who lived from 1855 to 1930 had a long distinguished career as a fine artist. As you might expect, at least one of his other paintings must have also depicted beer, and I did find this one, painted in 1915, entitled The Art Critics.

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The painting today is at the Hope Gallery in Salt Lake City, Utah, who specialize in genre paintings. They describe the Art Critics like this:

The bartender in white stands at the end of the counter listening to two artists critique an unframed painting that faces them on a chair. They are seated at a simple brown wooden table with three chairs. Their glasses, a candle and their elbows fill the tabletop. The men are dressed in their finest (black suits, shined shoes, collars and neckties) as they have ventured out in public. The bearded man sits holding a newspaper yet reads the painting as his companion critiques the work. Protruding from his beard and mustache is a lit, smoking cigarette. The other gentleman holds his cigarette in the air as he talks about the painting before them. The bartender is amused by what he hears as he has a smile on his face. With exception to the table and chairs, all of the woodwork in the room is a light blue — a nice contrast against the soft white of the walls and bright white of the bartender’s coat.

A simple, yet amusing genre piece showing an everyday event of looking at and critiquing a painting — just as you are doing now.

As someone who likes to look at art, it’s often not possible to walk around a gallery with a beer, so to be able to drink and look at art in a bar is pretty much my ideal.

There is also a short biography of Henningsen and you can also see a few dozen more of his works at the Hope Gallery. The Hope Gallery also has prints of his work available for purchase.

Beer In Ads #66: Tuborg’s Thirsty Man

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Tuesday’s ad is a favorite of a friend of mine, Christian Kazakoff — who’s the head brewer at Iron Springs Pub & Brewery — and is for the Danish beer Tuborg. I got an e-mail from Christian last night about how much he’s enjoying my “Beer In Advertising” series and sharing with me his personal favorite, so I thought I’d feature his choice today.

Founded in 1873, since 1970 Tuborg has been owned by Danish brewing giant Carlsberg. Though founded in 1873, it was two years before they began brewing so in 1900 they sponsored a poster contest to celebrate their 25th anniversary. Though the winning entries were never used, one submission went on to become an iconic image, one that even today is still associated with Tuborg beer, especially throughout Europe. The painting, created by Danish artist Erik Henningsen (1855-1930), is known today as The Thirsty Man and has been used since November 1900 in Tuborg’s advertising.

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It’s original title translated as The Sweaty Man, but since beer was the end product and not deodorant, it became known as The Thirsty Man, which I think you’ll agree has a much better ring to it. According to Just-Drinks, “the poster is still one of the most popular sold in Denmark. The image of the Thirsty Man has also been used to great effect in Germany, where Tuborg is the leading imported beer.” [Or at least it was when they wrote that in 2000.]

In addition, “the popularity of the poster was added to in 1977 when Den Store Tuborg (The Big Tuborg) [in] half-litre bottles was launched using the image as a label.”

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Even now, 110 years later, you can find Tuborg advertising using The Thirsty Man, such as this sign for Tuborg Pilsener.

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Nørrebro Bryghus Fires Anders Kissmeyer

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The Danish beerticker.dk is reporting that Anders Kissmeyer was fired by Nørrebro Bryghus. Kissmeyer was one of the founders and as the original brewmaster was one of the reasons for the beer’s success. He seems to be taking it well as part of a necessary restructuring. Kissmeyer still has 20% stake in the company, but I’ve seen these things go badly before, so who knows.

Knut Albert had this to say:

Despite a wide range of inventive beers, collaborations with brewers around the world and a high media profile, the brewery has been losing money at an alarming rate. Both in 2007 and 2008 the deficit was about one million Euros.

Kissmeyer, who founded the brewery in 2000, will still be used as a consultant by the company, but the details of his future status do not seem to be finalized.

I corresponded with Kissmeyer a couple of year ago when I was working on a feature for All About Beer on collaborations and also had an opportunity meet Anders at either CBC or GABF last year (I can’t remember precisely which). I hope things turn around for the brewery and Anders is back in the brewhouse soon.

Beer In Ads #47: Tuborg’s A-H-H-H!

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Thursday’s ad is for Tuborg Beer and was published in 1960. It features a beautiful-looking nearly empty gold-rimmed pilsner glass with lace on the insides. The text reads “A-H-H-H! HEARD THE WORLD OVER … AFTER A GLASS OF TUBORG!” Tuborg used to be a stronger brand in the American market when I was a kid, and was part of United Breweries in Denmark before being acquired by brewing giant Carlsberg in 1970, ten years after this ad ran.

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A Blue Christmas Beer

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I’d heard of this Christmas beer, but I don’t think I realized the packaging was in blue, but then I don’t live in Denmark. Tuborg Brewery, owned by the Carlsberg Group, releases their holiday beer, known as Tuborg Julebryg, on J-Day, the first Friday in November (though this year it was the last Friday in October).

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I read somewhere that red glass is actually the best color for keeping out UV light, but that it was too expensive to be done commercially on a large scale. I have seen at least one red beer bottle (it’s in my ‘frig, a souvenir I picked up in Salzburg, Austria) but the only blue I can recall was the Apollo beer line from the 1990s.

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The idea for it being blue came from a successful ad campaign. From the Carlsbeg Group’s website:

Most Danes know the blue and white advertisement for Tuborg Julebryg (Tuborg Christmas Brew). But probably not many know that the famous animated commercial, which features Santa Claus in blue clothing, is actually older than the beer itself. The commercial was originally launched in 1980 as a special holiday commercial for ordinary Tuborg pilsner, but it became so popular that for Christmas 1981 we created the special Tuborg Julebryg.

Although Tuborg Julebryg is a seasonal beer and is only on the market for six weeks every year, it is still Denmark’s fourth best selling beer. It’s only beaten by Green Tuborg, Carlsberg Pilsner and Tuborg Classic, which are available all year round. Its launch, known as “J-day”, always takes place on the first Friday of every November and is an annual day of celebration across Denmark. Carlsberg employees drive around the bars and cafes, handing out free beer to really get the festive season started.

Tuborg Julebryg is a bottom-fermented, wiener beer brewed on lager, münchener and caramel malt with English liquorice. The beer is dark-golden with a fresh aroma of caramel, grain, liquorice and blackcurrant. It’s excellent with traditional Christmas recipes, smoked fish, grilled/fried herring, smoked ham with curly kale, roast pork and duck.

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Apparently they change the design from year to year, as here’s last year’s bottle.