Victor Qvistorff

V. Qvistorff was born in Aarhus in 1883, where he embarked upon a career as businessman, while painting as a hobby. Thus he was a self-taught painter, but in 1921 successfully submitted a painting to the Charlottenborg salon. Therefore, from 1924 he decided to make painting his profession, and with the encouragement of L.A. Ring and H.A. Brendekilde to boot. V. Qvistorff chose many different subjects for his paintings, which were executed in impressionist style, but he made his breakthrough with his marine paintings. This was in 1931, when he was introduced as a marine artist in Vikingen, a maritime monthly journal. Here he was introduced as the master who would paint the forthcoming front pages for 1932, and subsequently he specialised in marine paintings and the ship portraiture.
   
V. Qvistorff made paintings both for shipping companies and seafarers. His works included a large number of portraits of newly built ships for ØK (the Danish East India Company), J. Lauritzen, DFDS and the B&W shipyard. He painted smaller seascapes, which he referred to as postage stamps, for captains, mates and able seamen. V. Qvistorff found his often prosaic subjects by sailing around to various ports on tugboats or in his own motorboat. He acquired the nickname “red lead painter” through his fascination with the patches of rust on the hulls of ships. Therefore, some paintings were not purchased by shipping companies but by private enthusiasts, whose artistic sensibilities were not offended by the red leaded areas. He was extremely productive and by the time of his death in 1953 he had managed to paint some 6000 pictures.