17. Defeat after defeat

After the end of the First World War the fortunes of the merchants and speculators vanished just as quickly as they had materialised, and with the opening of Europe's new borders Copenhagen was no longer the artistic metropolis it had been during the final years of the war. In 1920 there was a slump and a depression throughout artistic life. Giersing threw worried looks at his colleagues who chose the easy solutions to the problems of the market (i.e. sales) - not least those who were members of Grønningen.

The general weariness and malaise in artistic life affected Giersing at the same time as his new responsibilities as a father, and during the following years he only rarely took part in public debate. At the same time the battleground for the continued struggle between the moderns and the conservatives moved from the press and artists' associations to the institutions. The battle was no longer about the dissemination of the actual message about modern art, and neither was it about gaining a foothold in the exhibition circuit.

Power over the institutions could not be won by creating new institutions; the groupings were too numerous for that, and the individual artists were too far from each other both geographically and personally. It was necessary to work on the institutions' premises, and in that game Giersing and those of like mind had insufficient backing from artists and people interested in art. So the result was the same on each occasion in the 20s when Giersing made an effort to turn the institutions in the direction he thought right. It was possible to get through by means of a coup, and all might go well for a time, but it inevitably ended in defeat, without anything essential being changed.

In September 1920 Giersing was among the applicants for three professorships at the Academy of Fine Arts, but like many others of the more progressively inclined, he was unsuccessful. His hopes of being able to influence the institution from the inside were not, however, abandoned, and in October 1922 he succeeded in becoming a member of the Academy Council. The aim and the tactics were clear enough when he straight away managed to get himself elected to the committee proposing recipients of scholarships, bursaries, prizes and medals. Giersing soon discovered that he was more or less alone with his views when there was something he considered important, and he was voted off the Council in March 1925.

As a member of the management committee of the Copenhagen Art Association Giersing had little more success than he had on the Academy Council. He was elected at the annual general meeting in February 1923 in circumstances that resembled a coup. But his presence had a significance for a noticeable change of policy in the Association's purchases. At the annual general meeting the following year disagreement concerning the Association's new periodical "Kunstbladet", which was edited by Giersing's close friend Leo Swane, led to a fierce debate, and when in 1925 the committee at the request of Giersing sought to combine various functions in one post, which they wanted occupied by his good friend Carl V. Petersen, the management committee along with Giersing was voted out of office.

To be continued.....
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