Ulrika Marseen’s sculptures are characterised by soft, rounded shapes that blend in with the material, be it wood or stone. She models the corporeal; an organic style we also see in artists such as Sonja Ferlov Mancoba, Erik Thommesen and Henry Moore. Wood is in many ways the most obliging material, embracing the round, modelled lines in its softness and warmth. There is no doubt that, through her skill as a sculptor, Marseen also manages to breathe the same life into her works of stone, which can be found in public urban spaces. The work represented here is from 1984 and one of Marseen’s later works. It is clear to see that the organic and dynamic idiom is part of her artistic DNA, which she never relinquishes. Marseen studies the body according to classic principles. In 1944, she is a student of sculptor Henry Luckow-Nielsen and then Johannes C. Bjerg at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Learning the classic forms gives Marseen an anatomical familiarity with the body and its proportions – and at the same time also the self-confidence and the need to break with these forms in her search for a more modern idiom. In 1948, she becomes part of Spiralen, an artists’ group whose members included Mogens Balle, Knud Nielsen and Wilhelm Freddie. She submits her monumental entry to the international The Unknown Political Prisoner competition in 1952 and is part of the group selected to exhibit at Tate Modern in London.

In the 1960s she makes a decision that becomes her true passion, namely the founding of Kunsthøjskolen in Holbæk. Following principles similar to Rudolph Steiner, she focuses on creative learning, and gives the various art forms space to unfold and intertwine. Passing on art to young people is a cause close to her heart. She is principal until 1981, when she resumes her artistic work, which she practices until her death.