| Thorvald
Hellesen, (1888 – 1937)
 |
Thorvald Hellesen's artistic career began in 1910 when he enrolled
at the Academy of Art in Oslo. By 1911, his talent had already
been remarked upon during the annual student exhibit by the
critic Jappe Nilssen who was known in Norway as a defender of
modern art.
In 1914, Hellessen received a scholarship to study painting
in Paris. “I was supposed to stay a few months- I stayed
twenty years. I entered the circle around Piccasso, and a new
world opened up for me; from that moment, I considered myself
an artist.” In that year he created two Cubist portraits
which already showed a mastery and an ability to enhance depth
by the decomposition and multiplicity of planes. During this
period of self-discovery, Hellesen seems to have been influenced
most of all by Picasso and Braque. In 1915-1916, he created
his collages of musical instruments, showing his understanding
of the structure and form of Synthetic Cubism.
During the war years in Paris, Hellesen married the artist HÈlene
Perdriat, who brought him into the very heart of the Cubist
milieu. By the end of the war, he had become good friends with
Fernand LÈger. Together they returned to Norway in 1919
to participate in an exhibition at the Tivoli Hall of Kristiania,
“Leger and the Modern Spirit,” for which Hellesen
designed the invitation. Hellesen's paintings show LÈger's
strong influence during this period. In LÈger's work,
the modulated grey tones showing the volume and curves of the
figures set the subjects apart from the flat, brightly colored
background. Hellesen combines the fundamental principles of
LÈger's dynamic rhythms of contrasting line and color,
yet his figures are completely assimilated into the scheme of
the painting. In Personnage AllongÈ, the grey reclining
figure blends into the background, while the vertical figure,
with its contrasting color, stands out.
Hellesen's work dating to the early 1920's is remarkable for
its absence of all treatment of volume and shadow; it is also
distinctive for his use of pinks, purples, and violets. Les
Boxeurs is an outstanding example of his technique. With just
the use of line and color he creates a geometric image of bold
form and strong purpose. His originality is found in his breaking
from the scholastic tradition of the avant-garde, which limited
the palette to more “regular” tones, or to only
the primary colors. After subsequent exhibitions, the critic
Theo van Doesburg wrote that “ the young generation is
going further in an artistic expression than Picasso or Braque....Hellesen
and LÈger are playing an important role in the evolution
of Cubism.” A critic from L'espirit Nouveau (1921) wrote:
“Among the Cubists, Hellesen is one of the most interesting,
for he seems to have a well-defined aesthetic, where color and
form blend in systematic fashion.”
Hellesen befriended Leonce Rosenberg, director of l'Effort moderne
gallery, and a promoter of both Cubism (including Picasso, Braque,
LÈger, Gleizes and Metzinger), and Puriam (Le Corbusier
and Ozen fant), who included Hellesen in a traveling exhibition
of French art. After 1920, Hellesen became increasingly influenced
by Gleizes and his theory of painting-to animate a flat surface,
to rhythmize space, to create a “pure art” which
has no reference to exterior reality. But Hellesen never allowed
his work to become simply gratuitious decoration. While Gleizes'
influence is seen in the movement and rotation of planes in
Hellesen's paintings, Hellesen's originality always comes through
in his stunning use of color. Before 1920, his vivid colors
already seemed to evoke the spirit of Gleizes' Cubism, but his
murals of the 1920's are often in rich earth colors, such as
ochre, black, and red. His choice evokes the feeling of medieval
frescoes as well as the colorful spirit in the purism of Ozenfant
and Le Corbusier.
The collective desire of the avant-garde artists was to change
the quality of daily life by creating an artistic environment
in the streets, homes, in public life-in fact, to allow the
“Esprit Nouveau” to penetrate the spirit of the
public. In 1923, Hellesen created other murals to decorate the
building of Navington at Kristiania. After a 1925 exhibition,
he no longer showed his paintings, and dedicated himself to
the creation of illustrations, publicity posters, and paintings
to decorate public offices, salons, and stores. Hi painting
Les Danseurs is one of four that were created for a ballroom
in Oslo.
There has been a recent rediscovery of Hellesen; in 1980-1981,
two of his paintings were acquired by the National Gallery of
Oslo and another was purchased by the MusÈe d'Art Moderne
de la Ville in Paris.
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