The Sjørup Jørgensen Collection

A number of works by Harald Giersing constitute the core of the collection, and it is our pleasure to offer three of these for sale at our auction. One of these works is "Ung Dame med cykle " from 1918, featuring Giersing’s young wife Besse who was his preferred model. The painting is an obvious example of Giersing’s mastery of the cubistic brushwork and his unfolding of the palette of colours. In Giersing’s own words, the important thing was “to make the painting go bang, to make the lines explode against one another, to make the colours clatter with obdurate force and splendour, to render reality as it is when experienced most strongly, a dream of summer, of muscle, of the eternal articulation of bodies”.

The auction will also offer his rendition of “Ung Dame med en Avis" from 1916 – another example of Giersing’s style. Using simplicity and strength, he manages to make a few tones of the same colour appear surprisingly saturated with force. The forest painting “Skovvej, Sorø” from 1916 completes the representation of Giersing’s work in this collection.

Apart from Giersing’s work, also paintings by artists such as Jon Stefansson, Jens Søndergaard, Ernst Zeuthen and Tage Mellerup are represented among the items of the collection that are now offered for sale. Furthermore, these items include a bronze figure by Einar Utzon-Frank (portrait of a girl). Likewise, the dynamic group of figures "Jockey springer over en hest" and "Hest og springende rytter" by Jean René Gauguin is highly noteworthy.

Almost all the works in the Sjørup Jørgensen Collection were created between 1916 and 1925, a period that denotes great upheaval in 20th century Danish art. A number of the most significant artists left naturalism behind in order to seek inspiration for their groundbreaking works in various European avant-garde currents such as fauvism, cubism, expressionism and futurism.

Literature: Kunst i privat eje, vol. III, p. 308 and L. Gottlieb: Giersing: maler, kritiker, menneske, Gyldendal, Copenhagen 1995.

Preview: October 4th-9th

Auction: October 9th-13th