Thursday, June 18, 2015

Rold Skov

Thorbjorn created many paintings of the Rold Forest [Rold Skov] in the Northern Jutland, Denmark. Here's an example from the collection of Helge Brix-Hansen, in Denmark.  Brix-Hansen maintains an online art gallery at gallery1.eu.  This painting is 47 cm x 67 cm.  The frame is identical to a frame I have on another Thorbjorn painting.  The signature line says Rold Skov, E. Thorbjorn.  It is not dated.

Here's another Rold Skov painting with a different palate.  This painting is also from Helge Brix-Hansen's website.

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Monday, June 15, 2015

Toward a Definitive Biography

E. Thorbjorn was a prolific Danish painter, most known for his oil on canvas landscape paintings of the landscapes of Greeland and Denmark's Rold Forest.  In recent years, many of his paintings have been sold on ebay and other auction sites by dealers in Denmark as well as by individuals in the United States.

Unfortunately, these sellers have offered conflicting information about this painter.  Thus this blog will serve as a clearinghouse of information about this artist.  It is my hope that a clearer picture of the life and oeuvre of Thorbjorn will emerge.

The painter's name has been most commonly represented as Einar Thorbjorn.  In a smaller number of cases, however, the name Evelyn Boje Thorbjorn Andersen has been used.  There is no doubt that both names apply to works by the same person and all the paints are simply signed "E. Thorbjorn."

According to the find-a-grave website, www.gravsted.dk, Evelyn Boje Thorbjorn Andersen, a Danish painter, was born on March 19, 1911 in Solbjerg, Mors, Denmark and died on May 31, 1990.  Here's the link to that site: http://www.gravsted.dk/person.php?navn=ethorbjoern.

Several galleries, including Obro Kunsthandel of Copenhagen, have represented the dates of Einar Thorbjorn as 1911 to 1985.

I have two printed versions of an artist's biography -- they are similar with minor variations.  These biographies claim that he had his first exhibition in 1928, at the age of 17, that he traveled to the Danish colony of Greenland in 1949, and that he had two works purchased by Lyndon B. Johnson, then Vice President of the United States, during a visit to Copenhagen in 1963.   These artist's biographies seem to have been printed during his life, as they do not mention his death date.

As an avid collector of paintings by E. Thorbjorn, I would be glad to hear from anyone who also has paintings by him or who has information about him.