ORLA MUFF

(Danish, 1903-1984)

WOMAN BEARING FRUIT

Oil on Canvas

 26½ x 19½ Inches

Signed Lower Right, "Muff"

 

After winning a national drawing competition at the age of 14, Orla Muff studied with the theatrical painter, Carl Lund from 1917-1921. He followed this with extended study throughout Europe, including in Stockholm and Paris. He achieved widespread acclaim as a designer of elaborate Art Deco sets for prominent European revues and theatrical productions, including for Copenhagen’s Folk Theater and Max Reinhardt’s Theater in Berlin. In the early 1930s, Muff turned his attention to easel painting, creating portraits and mythologically-derived figural works that often incorporated a high degree of Art Deco stylization. We are pleased to offer an exotic figural work painted when the artist was in his late thirties.

 

Artworks Exhibited:

Horse and Naked Women (1928); Woman with Golden Hair (1931); Leda and the Swan (exhibit 1940); Mountains by night (exhibit 1940); Midsummer Night's Dream (exhibit 1940); Landscape, Tisvilde (exhibit 1944); H.C. Andersen figures (wooden sculptures, 1947); H.C Andersen figures (ceramics, 1950s, for fa. Søholm); ill. with motifs from the Bible, intended for use in school films (from 1957); Triptych (1962-64); endv. ill. by H.C. Andersen's fairy tales, posters, theater decorations and costumes for the Mayol Theater, Oslo (1921-22); to Ernst Rolf's revues, Sth. (1923-28); to Max Reinhardt's Theater, Berlin (including sketches for Faust, 1930); to Folketeatret, Copenhagen. (Värmländingene, 1934); to Wintergarten, Berlin (1939).

 

Reference:

Weilbach, Dansk Kunstnerleksikon, the Castle and Cultural Agency, Copenhagen; Extrabl. 4/13/1940; 17.7.1940; Berl. Time. 7/29/1957; Day. Nyh. 9/22/1957; et al.