Ib Geertsen (7 January 1919 – 3 June 2009) was a Danish painter and sculptor. He began as a

Naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

but later turned to

Concrete art Concrete art was an art movement with a strong emphasis on geometrical abstraction. The term was first formulated by Theo van Doesburg and was then used by him in 1930 to define the difference between his vision of art and that of other abstract ar ...

Biography

Born in Copenhagen, Geertsen first trained as a gardener (1934–39) before concentrating on art in which he was self-taught. In 1937, he associated with Thorvald Hansen and other painters from Aalborg, developing an interest in Naturalism and painting dark still lifes and landscapes inspired by

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...

and

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (; ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the École de Paris who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern art, modern style characterized by a surre ...

. In 1943, he moved to Copenhagen adopting a more spontaneous

impasto Impasto is a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface thickly, usually thick enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas. When dry, impasto provides tex ...

, surrealistic technique in his painting. In 1947, he was a co-founded of the Linien II artists association, which concentrated on concrete art. He developed an approach based on rounded areas with solid colouring which he employed in decorations for schools and hospitals in Næstved, Aalborg and Copenhagen in accordance with a precise colour scheme. Works consisting of circles and squares became his widely recognized idiom. Later he created a variety of mobile and hanging works, decorating the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (1980) and the concert hall in Statens Museum for Kunst (1998).

Awards

In 1978, Geertsen was awarded the

Eckersberg Medal The Eckersberg Medal (originally the ''Akademiets Aarsmedaille'' or Annual Academy Medal) is an annual award of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. It is named after Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, known as the father of Danish painting. The ...

and, in 1991, the

Thorvaldsen Medal The Thorvaldsen Medal (Danish language, Danish: Thorvaldsens Medalje, Thorvaldsen Medaillen) is awarded annually with few exceptions to a varying number of recipients by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and is its highest distinction within th ...

References

Literature

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External links

Illustrated portrait of Ib Geertsen from KunstOnlineIllustrated list of works by Ib Geersten in Danish museums
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geertsen, Ib 1919 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Danish painters Sculptors from Copenhagen Painters from Copenhagen Recipients of the Thorvaldsen Medal Recipients of the Eckersberg Medal 20th-century Danish sculptors 20th-century Danish male artists