'Seated Nude' by Mogens Hertz, 1949, Paris, Royal Danish Academy, Charlottenborg, Bornholm, Benezit

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Signed lower right, 'Mogens Hertz' (Danish, 1909-1999) and dated 1949.

A large, Post-Impressionist figural oil showing a pregnant young woman, … Read more Signed lower right, 'Mogens Hertz' (Danish, 1909-1999) and dated 1949.

A large, Post-Impressionist figural oil showing a pregnant young woman, draped from the waist down, with her hands resting serenely in her lap. Seated beside a garden door, she is gently dappled by golden sunlight that filters in through verdant foliage. Painted when the artist was forty years old, Hertz has accomplished a lyrical, light-suffused study of his beautiful and enigmatic young subject.

Mogens Hertz first studied with the Academician, Laurits Ring and, subsequently, with the Danish Impressionist, Rostrup Boyesen. In 1930, after an influential study trip to Paris, Hertz continued his formal studies at Copenhagen's Charlottenborg Academy before moving to the countryside outside Gudhjem. There, he became a co-founder of the Bornholm School. His work there came to exemplify the group's lyrical portrayal of idyllic landscapes, painted in a loose and painterly, Impressionist style that often borders on abstraction.

From 1930-1941, Hertz traveled and studied widely, including to France, Holland, Germany, Norway and Sweden. He was the recipient of numerous medals, prizes and juried awards including the August Schiøtt scholarship (1948) and the Frederik Sødring prize (1939). Over the course of a long and distinguished career, he exhibited widely and with success including, from 1937, at the Royal Danish Academy's Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition, at the Bornholm Art Museum and the Vejen Art Museum, among others. Mogens Hertz is well-listed in relevant art biographical reference works including Benezit's definitive dictionary of artists. We are pleased to offer a major work from the artist's middle period.

Reference:
E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Jacques Busse, 1999 Nouvelle Édition, Gründ 1911, Vol. 6, p. 954; Weilbach, Dansk Kunstnerleksikon, the Castle and Cultural Agency, Copenhagen; Chr. F. Beck i: Da. Kunst, nr. 90, maj 1950; Helge Ernst: Bornholmermalerne, 1984, 123f, 134; Lars Kærulf Møller i: Bornholms Kunstmus. Et udvalg af billeder, 1986, 42, 44; et al. See less