‘Study of a Man’ by Axel Bentzen, Paris, Flâneur, Boulevardier, Danish Post-Impressionist Oil

Initialed upper right ‘A.B.’ for Axel Bentzen (Danish, 1893-1952) painted circa 1915.

Axel Bentzen studied art as a child and, by the age of 14, was copying Old Master paintings at Copenhagen’s National Museum of Art. He traveled to Italy in 1919 and, from 1923-1939, spent every second year there or in Paris, painting and furthering his understanding of the principles of Modernism. Bentzen was the recipient of numerous scholarships including the prestigious Hielmstierne-Rosencrone scholarship which he was awarded twice (1925, 1927) and the Copenhagen Akademie scholarship which he received three times (1927, 1929, 1931). He exhibited internationally with success including, from 1922, at the Charlottenborg as well as at prominent salons in Paris, Berlin, Venice, Budapest, Riga and Belgrade. The artist is listed in all relevant art reference works including both Benezit’s Dictionary of Artists and Thieme-Becker’s Kunstlexikon (Vollmer Supplement). We are pleased to offer this dramatic and psychologically penetrating oil study of a young man dating to circa 1925.

Reference:
E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Jacques Busse, 1999 Nouvelle Édition, Gründ 1911, Vol. 2, p. 122; Vollmer Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler des 20. Jarhhunderts, Hans Vollmer, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 1992, Vol. 1, p. 173; et al.

Scholarships:
Hielmstierne-Rosencrone 1925, 1927; Raben-Levetzau 1926; Bielke 1926; Carlson’s Pr. 1926; Akkadian. 1927, 1929, 1931; Oluf Hartmann 1928, 1930; Eckersberg Med. 1930; Kaufmann 1930; March 1931; Zach. Jacobsen 1932, 1936.

Exhibitions:
KE 1922-26; Charles. Spring 1925; The free Exhibition 1927-38 (inc. from 1930); Association of painters, Helsinki, 1928; Funen Spring Exhibition. 1930, 1938; Tour exhibition 1930-36; Newer Painting, Germany 1932; in Venice 1934, 1954; as exhibited in Budapest, Riga, Bucharest and Belgrade 1936-37; Nerd Mässhallen, Gothenburg 1939; Grønningen 1939-47, 1952 (commemorative issue), 1953, (commemorative issue), 1955, 1965; Icelandic, Swedish art, Mässhallen, Gothenburg 1941; Ny Carlsbergfondet Jubilee Charlottenborg and others 1952; That then buying convention, Fr. 1952 (commemorative issue); The Freeman’s Memorial Exhibition, Kunstforen, Kbh 1966; Easter 1974, Skive Museum 1974; Modern art owned by Vejle, Vejle Kunstmuseum 1977; Inside, outside, Mouse at Koldinghus 1981.

Solo exhibitions:
Anton Hansen, Copenhagen 1917; The free Exhibition building, 1921; Kunstforen, Copenhagen 1937; Jugelsalan, Aarhus 1946-47, 1950; Storstrøm’s Kunstmuseum 1953 (commemorative issue); Open Mouse, 1972.

Artworks:
Egyptian Woman on Balcony (1920); Self-Portrait (1925, Stat. Museum for Art); The Hospital Garden (1925); The Dreamer (1925, Storstrøm Art Museum); The Blind (1925, Carlsons Pr for 3 last names); Marsk Stig’s daughters (1926, Nordjyll Kunstmuseum); Young Italian woman on a chair (Jolanda, 1926); et al.