Thorvald Hellesen 1888-1937
Edited by Dag Blakkisrud, Matthew Drutt, Hilde Mørch

Thorvald Hellesen (1888–1937) was a Norwegian avant-garde artist who lived and worked in Paris in the 1910s and 1920s. He and his wife, the French artist Hélène Perdriat, were part of a circle of artists that included Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, and Constantin Brâncuși, among many others.

In his short yet intense life, Thorvald Hellesen created an impressive and unique oeuvre, oriented on Modernism, consisting of oil paintings, watercolors, gouaches, drawings, and textiles. Nevertheless, even in Norway he is only known to a few.

This first comprehensive publication on Thorvald Hellesen intends to not only make him known to a general readership but also provide as extensive an overview as possible of his oeuvre. Author and editor Dag Blakkisrud focuses on Hellesen the person, his life between France and Norway, and the enormous support from his friend Eivind Eckbo, who, not least, as his most important collector, contributed to the preservation of many works. The Norwegian art historian Hilde Mørch provides the temporal context for Hellesen’s work, while the distinguished American author Matthew Drutt embarked on a search for clues to gain more accurate knowledge about the actual dates of origin of many of Hellesen’s paintings.

Together they have created a multifaceted and fascinating portrait of an artist worthy of rediscovery.