HARALD LETH

(Danish, 1899-1986)

STILL LIFE OF FLOWERS AND PEACHES

Oil on Canvas

26¾  x 22½ Inches

Signed Lower Right

 

After first studying medicine, Harald Leth commenced his art studies with Johannes Larsen (1921) before attending Harald Giersing's painting school (1921–1923). He later studied with Olaf Rude (1923–1924) and, briefly, with Peter Rostrup Boyesen. During the 1920's, he also traveled to, and studied in, Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam where he was exposed to the ferment of modernist ideas which led to a general lightening and brightening of his palette. Leth first exhibited at the Charlottenborg autumn exhibition in 1923. He was a member of several avante-garde art movements including the Høstudstillingen (1934–1944), Koloristerne (1946–1950) and Martsudstillingen (1951–1982).

 

During his summers on the island of Bornholm in the 1920s, Leth became acquainted with Oluf Høst and was later influenced by the work of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, which led to the development of his own, intensively naturalistic, style. Leth mainly painted landscapes, still lifes and interiors, often in composed in smaller formats. From 1944, when he moved to Asminderød Mark in the north of Zealand, he painted in an increasingly Colouristic style.

 

During the course of a long career, Leth exhibited widely and with success and was the recipient of numerous prizes, medals and juried awards including the Danish Academy medal (1929), the Eckersberg Medal (1958), the Thorvaldsen Medal (1966) and the Prince Eugen Medal (1983). His work is held in the permanent collection of the National Art Museum of Denmark and in the collection of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Leth is well-listed in Benezit's Dictionary of Artist's, Painters and Sculptors and Weilbach's Dictionary of Artists and all other relevant art reference works.

 

We are pleased to offer a delicate and dynamic still-life from this notable Modernist artist's middle period.