Gudmund Olsen (1913-1985)

Gudmund Olsen was one of the many Danish artists who settled in Paris in the years after World War II. Here his naturalistic, socially committed style with dark color attitude was replaced by constructive painting in boldly combined colors. The clearly drawn form and compositional balance are characteristic of his works, a play with planes and volume. The violin as well as clowns, Pierrot figures, etc. can be found in these works and show the influence of Cubism. O. was in possession of a form-analytical mind and a sure sense of color. The many pictures from Røsnæs, where he lived in the summer, show in the depiction of nature a kinship with Oluf Høst's refined use of color, bordering on the abstract. After returning from France, O. also made pictures with thin aluminum plates as material, still using the constructive form of expression and with an emphasis on the balance of the picture. As in the paintings, recognizable elements can be distinguished in these metal works, flowers, pot shapes or the like, made with brass nails on the gray aluminum plate, which may be partially painted or mounted on a painted background. O. was a co-founder of the Association des Artistes Danois en France.

Source: Weilbach's Artists' Encyclopedia