Thorvald Hellesen

Thorvald Hellesen
Self-portrait (1909)
Born	(1888-12-25)25 December 1888 Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway
Died	22 October 1937(1937-10-22) (aged 48)
Education	Oslo National Academy of the Arts
Movement	Abstract, Cubism
Spouses	Hélène Perdriat ​ ​ (m. 1915, divorced)​ Guni Mortensen ​ (m. 1937)​
Parents	Thorvald Hellesen (1862–94) (father) Ida Selmer (1858–1945) (mother)

Thorvald Hellesen (25 December 1888 – 22 October 1937) was a Norwegian abstract artist, designer and painter. His art was associated with the Orphic Cubism movement.

Biography

Thorvald Hellesen (sometimes spelled Thorwald) was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was the son of Thorvald Hellesen (1862–94), a barrister at the Supreme Court, and Ida Selmer (1858–1945), the daughter of Prime Minister Christian Selmer. He passed the Examen artium, but spent a year at the Norwegian Military Academy before deciding to become an artist.

He then enrolled at the newly created Oslo National Academy of the Arts, where he studied with Christian Krohg. This was followed by a move to Paris in 1912. There, he worked with Fernand Léger and became acquainted with Picasso.

Les deux amies (1920)

Career

From 1920, Hellesen attended exhibitions in the Salon des Indépendants and the Galerie la Boëtie in Paris. In 1925, he participated at the Exposition Internationale L'Art d'Aujourd'hui in Paris. He would remain in Paris for the next two decades, with occasional visits to Norway and Denmark.

He had held only one exhibition of his works at home in 1919; choosing to exhibit mostly with the Salon des indépendants and the Section d'Or. He appears to have exhibited very little after a major showing of avant-garde art in 1925. In addition to his paintings, he did decorative work, notably at the Sjøfartsbygningen (Maritime Building) in Oslo, as well as designing patterns for textiles and wallpaper.

He married painter Hélène Perdriat in 1915. The marriage was a troubled one, however, and was eventually dissolved. In 1937, he married his presumed mistress, a dancer named Guni Mortensen. During the course of that affair, he found himself gradually becoming estranged from the local art community and had to take odd jobs as a movie bit player. In the fall of 1937, after an extended period of poor health, he fell seriously ill and returned home; dying shortly thereafter.

Gallery

• 
  Cubist Still-life
• 
  Abstract composition
• 
  Sketch for a mural
• 
  Sketch for a sports hall decoration

Further reading

• Steinar Gjessing: "Den norske kubist Thorvald Hellesen", in Kunst og Kultur, 1981, pgs.233–248
• Per Bjarne Boym: Fire norske kubister (Thorvald Hellesen, Ragnhild Keyser, Ragnhild Kaarbø, Charlotte Wankel) exhibition catalog, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, 1986

External links

• ArtNet: More works by Hellesen.