'Self Portrait' by Anne Margrethe Grossell, Post Impressionist Danish Woman Artist, Charlottenborg, Aurora

Description

Painted by Anne Margrethe Grosell (Danish, 1909- 1999), circa 1935, and stamped, verso, with certification of authenticity.

An accomplished Post-Impressionist … more Painted by Anne Margrethe Grosell (Danish, 1909- 1999), circa 1935, and stamped, verso, with certification of authenticity.

An accomplished Post-Impressionist self-portrait by this rare Danish woman artist who chose to remain an outsider to the Danish art establishment but who exhibited widely over a long career including, loyally, for many years at the Danish Artist's Autumn Exhibition at the Charlottenborg.

Anne Margrethe Grosell first attended Copenhagen's' Technical School before transferring to the Danish Royal Academy where she studied under Aksel Jorgensen (1927-1932). She was the recipient of a number of scholarships including the Laub Scholarship( 1927); the Carlson Prize (1929) and the Marius Hammann Scholarship. These allowed her to travel and paint widely including in France, Germany and Italy and, after the war, in England and the United States. From 1969-76, Grosell was a member of the Aurora Group based on the island of Mon and, from 1974-84, served on the committee of the Academy. Margrethe Grosell's work is held in numerous private and public collections including the permanent collection of the Danish National Museum.

Exhibitions:
Danish Artists’ Autumn Exhibition 1929-1930; Charl. Forår 1930-1975, 1977-1979, 1982-1993; Charl. Eft. 1941, 1945, 1956, 1966, 1976; Exposition presented International Women's Club, Paris, 1958; Kvindel. Kunstneres Samf. 1961, 1976, 1986; Aurora-gruppen 1969-1976; Modern Italian Painters Hørsholm Bibl. 1977; Da. Portrætkunst, 1981; Vinduet 1981-1985; Kunstnere for fred, Charlottenborg 1983; Separatudstillinger: Bingers Kunsthandel, Copenhagen 1934; Charlottenborg 1938 (s.m. Else Vogel Jørgensen og Anne Marie Telmanyi); Bachs Kunsthandel, Copenhagen 1959; Gallery Porta, Odense 1960; Henning Larsens Kunsthandel, Copenhagen 1963; Berl. Tid. Kunstforen. 1964; Århus Kunstgalleri 1965; Aalborg Kunstgalleri 1968; Hørsholm Bibl. 1974, 1981; Den frie Udst. bygn. 1979 (retrosp.); TV-byen, Søborg 1981; Møstings Hus, Frederiksberg 1984; Kvindemuseet, Århus 1988 (s.m. Else Vogel Jørgensen og Anne Marie Telmanyi).

Museum holdings:
Snesjap, Kongens Nytorv (udst. 1929, Carlsons Prize); Ved Nærum (1938); Stationsvej, Frederiksberg (1939, Stat. Mus. for Kunst); Anna Louise ved Vinduet (1947, Trapholt); Bybillede, Solbjergvej på Frederiksberg (1968, Nordjyll. Kunstmuseet); Udsigt over Kongens Nytorv (1968, Stat. Mus. for Kunst).

Literature:
Ekstrabl. 3. 10. 1934 (interview, Erna Milde); 4. 5. 1936; 18. 1. 1938 (interview); Dag. Nyh. 15. 10. 1934 (Sig. Schultz); Berl. Tid. 10. 2. 1938 (Kai Flor); Nat. Tid. 11. 2. 1938 (L. Rostrup Bøyesen); Berl. Aften 13. 11. 1959 (interv., Harald H. Lund); Frederiksberg Bl. 18. 8. 1966 (interview); Aktuelt 19. 10. 1966 (Pr. Wilmann); Per Jølting: Omkring en Kunstner, 19 monografier, 1968, nr. 9; Aalborg Amtstid. 10. 11. 1968 (P. Karner); Jyll. 14. 11. 1968 (Ib Sinding); 12. 1. 1988 (H.P. Jensen).

From the artist's biographical entry in Weilbach's Kunstnerleksikon (Weilbach's Art Lexicon):
"As the daughter of one of the most original art dealers and art collectors of our time, Anne Margrethe Grosell was brought up in an environment characterized by a peculiar mixture of high artistic quality requirements and bohemian turbulence. Already at a very young age, she chose the line she has followed with stubborn consistency throughout her life: the penetrating, perceptive depiction of nature without distinction to changing fashion trends or desires for external bravura. Her domain is the Copenhagen, especially the Frederiksberg, cityscape, experienced on the spot, preferably in snow and sleet, without the involvement of narrative moments, but with a distinct sense of the interaction between houses, trees and the weather as an atmosphere-creating factor. The coloring is usually grey-toned and the fabric treatment robust with reminders of the direct melee with the subject. From the starting point around Frederiksberg Station and Solbjergvej, the field is gradually extended to Kongens Nytorv and the edgy streets of the inner city and the Greater Copenhagen suburbs. There are also a few sensitive portraits from her hand. Not least the travels in the South in recent years have contributed to a brightening of the light, which has endowed the color with an exotic power. Her reluctance to join larger exhibition associations and the stubborn retention of Charlottenborg as her forum for the outside world may have been an obstacle to a deserved marking of her artistic profile. However, her unadulterated talent has by no means gone unnoticed by fellow painters, often with a completely different artistic observance. It has been said of her pictures that "in their sensitivity to light and penetrating relationship with the subjects, they extend the intimate line in Danish painting from Albert Gottschalk and Karl Schou" (Preben Wilmann). less