MELLEM LINIERNE (BETWEEN THE LINES)

GUNNAR AAGAARD ANDERSEN
PAUL GADEGAARD
IB GEERTSEN
HENRY HEERUP
ALBERT MERTZ
RICHARD MORTENSEN
CARL HENNING PEDERSEN
VILHELM BJERKE PETERSEN
OLE SCHWALBE
RICHARD WINTHER

Press Release in Danish (PDF

Duration: 23.09 – 22.10.2011
Opening: Friday 23.09.2011, 5-7 pm

CUBE
Photos by:
Keld Helmer Petersen
Jesper Høm
Poul Pedersen
Helmer Lund-Hansen
Jørgen Roos
Richard Winther
and others

The exhibition MELLEM LINIERNE (Between The Lines) at Gallery Tom Christoffersen takes you back through three decades of Danish art connected by three generations of the artist group LINIEN. The exhibition consists of drawings, collages and photographs mostly from Ib Geertsen’s collection but also with supplements from Susanne Mertz and Tobias Winther collections.

In 1934 Vilhelm Bjerke Petersen, Richard Mortensen and Ejler Bille formed the first LINIEN-group inspired by the Bauhaus school in Germany and abstract art in general. With a desire for a continuation of the efforts made by the first group younger artists formed LINIEN II in 1947. It consisted of Richard Winther, Albert Mertz and Ib Geertsen etc. and they invited the older colleagues Mortensen and Bjerke Petersen to participate in their exhibitions – the first held in restaurant Tokanten, autumn 1947. The connection to the thirties LINIEN-group was somewhat blurred in the Dadaist breaking mood at the exhibition. But a break was underway for several of the artists in these years, both the young and the elderly, and in the next two LINIEN exhibitions in 1948 and 1949 they seemed to have found there way with the geometric and formal abstract art in focus. The last LINIEN-group number III held in 1956 the exhibition Konkret Realisme (Concrete Realism) on the initiative of the original founder Richard Mortensen and where Aagaard Andersen, Gadegaard and Geertsen was still participating – where as Ole Schwalbe here joined the group for the first time. In 1958 LINIEN held there last exhibition Linien igen (Linien Again).

The exhibition MELLEM LINIERNE is a selected incursion through the intimate medium of drawing, from a group of artists who inspired and influenced each other across generations. The main focus is on works by the mentor Richard Mortensen and the founders of LINIEN II Ib Geertsen, Albert Mertz and Richard Winther.

Thanks to Birthe Geertsen, Susanne Mertz and Tobias Winther.

installation views

Ib Geertsen and Albert Mertz in front of Pustervig Art Dealer in 1944. Photo: Jørgen Roos

Installation view MELLEM LINIERNE Galleri Tom Christoffersen, 2011

CUBE
Keld Helmer Petersen
Jesper Høm
Poul Pedersen
Helmer Lund-Hansen
Jørgen Roos
Richard Winther
and others

”Bamse” Krag Jacobsen, Richard Mortensen, Ib Geertsen, Albert Mertz. Linien II exhibition in Tokanten, Copenhagen 1947.

Ib Geertsen sculpture. Early 1950t’ies. Photo: Jesper Høm

Henrik Buch, ”Bamse” Krag Jacobsen, Albert Mertz, Kujahn Blask, and Ib Geertsen. Linien at Den Frie Exhibition Hall, 1948.

Ib Geertsen in his studio, Birkerød, Nov. 1942. Photo: Keld Kreutzfeldt.

Birthe and Ib Geertsen in Charlottenlund 1959. Photo: Carl Rasmussen.

Torn photo of Ib Geertsen in Teatercafeen 1944. Text on the back by the artist: ”…torn apart by Kirsten Stenbæk during our marriage between 1944 and 1950…” Photo: Helmer Lund Hansen.

Study In Motion II – Ib Geertsen mobile with to squares. 1962. 19x19 cm.Photo: Keld Helmer Petersen.

Kirsten Stenbæk, Ib Geertsen and Richard Winther in Birkerød 1948.

Ib Geertsen mobile. Photo: Jesper Høm 1954.

Niels Malcholm, Preben Hornung, Grete Aagaard, Gunnar Aagaard Andersen, Albert Mertz, Ely Gross, Helge Jacobsen and Søren Georg Jensen during an artists' meeting at the home of Ib Geertsen in Rødovre 1952.

Ib Geertsen, Albert Mertz, Søren Georg Jensen, Gunnar Aagaard Andersen and "Bamse" Kragh Jacobsen at Den Frie Exhibition Hall, Østerport. 12.9.1949. Photo: Richard Winther.

Linien exhibition at Lund University, Sweden 1950. Photo: Richard Winther.

Ib Geertsen during a Linien exhibition in 1950 at Lund University, Sweden. Photo: Richard Winther.

Albert Mertz at Lund University, Sweden in 1950. Photo: Richard Winther.

Installation view from Richard Winther's retrospective at Trefoldigheden, Copenhagen, 1.3 - 24.10 1951. The end wall shows the work "Pastorale", 204 x 302 cm. Photo: Richard Winther.

Linien exhibition in Tokanten 1947. Photo: Richard Winther.

Photo possibly from the exhibition "Linien In Private Surroundings" at Gerda Hansen, Frederiksborggade 26B, Copenhagen. 7 – 21 october 1950. Photo: Richard Winther.