Richard Mortensen (b. Copenhagen 1910, d. Kirke Hyllinge 1993)
“Portræt af hr. A” (eller “Grimasse”) (Portrait of Mr. A, or (Grimace)), Odense April 1940. Signed and dated on the reverse. Oil on canvas. 54×42 cm.
Literature: Jan Würtz Frandsen: “Richard Mortensen. Afklaringens år 1940–1958. Besættelse og rekonstruktion”, Copenhagen 1992, fig. 19, reproduced in colours p. 31 (mirrored) and mentioned p. 32. Provenance: Kunsthallen Kunstauktioner, auction 397, Copenhagen 13 February 1991, cat. no. 115a, reproduced p. 41. Provenance: Private collection, Denmark. Acquired at the above by the present owner.
“These small ”portraits“ were, according to Mortensen himself, produced under the impression of gaping, random faces on the street in Odense on the day of the occupation, 9 April. ”Grimasses“ he called them at first, and later maintains: ”They are not masks!“ .... Mortensen still works consciously and subtly with the formal, thus in ”Portrait of Mr. A“. in his circle of what the eye sees”; from Jan Würtz Frandsen in “Richard Mortensen. Afklaringens år”.
Condition report available on request
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