'Nana' by Orla Muff, 1934, Pre-War Berlin, Weimar, Art Deco, Paris, Max Reinhardt Theater, Smoking

Description

Signed lower left, 'Muff' for Orla Muff (Danish, 1903-1984), titled, 'Nana' and dated 1934.

Orla Muff received his first formal … more Signed lower left, 'Muff' for Orla Muff (Danish, 1903-1984), titled, 'Nana' and dated 1934.

Orla Muff received his first formal art instruction at the Copenhagen Technical School from 1917-21, where he studied with the theatrical painter, Carl Lund. He subsequently traveled, studied and painted throughout Europe including in France, Germany, Sweden and Holland.

In the early years of his career, Muff was celebrated as a designer of sophisticated Art Deco sets and costumes for prominent theatrical productions and revues throughout Europe. These included productions for Max Reinhardt's Theater in Berlin, the Mayol Theater in Oslo and the Folk Theater in Copenhagen, among others. In the early 1930s, however, he began to focus on easel painting, creating portraits and figural works as well as abstract paintings composed in a predominantly light color scale. His figures from this period are often mythologically derived, with a high degree of Art Deco stylization and contrasted against essentially abstract backgrounds. During the course of a long career, Orla Muff exhibited widely and with success and was the recipient of numerous medals, prizes and juried awards. We are pleased to offer this psychologically penetrating portrait of a compelling theatrical personality painted in 1934, when the artist was in his early thirties and at the height of his powers.

Artworks Exhibited:
Horse and Naked Women (1928); Woman with Golden Hair (1931); Leda and the Swan (exhibit 1940); Mountains by night (exhibit 1940); Midsummer Night's Dream (exhibit 1940); Landscape, Tisvilde (exhibit 1944); H.C. Andersen figures (wooden sculptures, 1947); H.C Andersen figures (ceramics, 1950s, for fa. Søholm); ill. with motifs from the Bible, intended for use in school films (from 1957); Triptych (1962-64); endv. ill. by H.C. Andersen's fairy tales, posters, theater decorations and costumes for the Mayol Theater, Oslo (1921-22); to Ernst Rolf's revues, Sth. (1923-28); to Max Reinhardt's Theater, Berlin (including for Faust, 1930); to Folketeatret, Copenhagen. (Värmländingene, 1934); to Wintergarten, Berlin (1939).

Reference:
Weilbach, Dansk Kunstnerleksikon, the Castle and Cultural Agency, Copenhagen; Extrabl. 4/13/1940; 17.7.1940; Berl. Time. 7/29/1957; Day. Nyh. 9/22/1957; et al. less