VIGGO JULIUS RORUP

(Danish, 1903-1971)

MEDITERRANEAN ORANGE GROVE

Oil on Canvas

21¼ x 25¾ Inches

Signed Lower Left, "V. Rorup" and Dated 1967

 

A substantial, Post-Impressionist oil landscape showing a view of the Mediterranean with an orange tree and blossoming apple trees in the foreground, framing a view across cultivated fields towards the azure ocean beneath a clouded lilac and ivory sky. A charming and robust work that exemplifies the artist's characteristically lyrical and painterly brushwork, elegantly expressing it here in a gentle palette of moss, teal, lavender and soft pastels.

 

Viggo Rorup was still a student at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts when he made his 1928 debut at the Free Exhibition at the Charlottenborg Palace. Following his graduation in 1930, he moved to Odsherred, where he continued his studies under Karl Bovin. Together, they formed the foundation of the avante-garde group of Modernists, The Corner, that first introduced the principles of Modernism to Danish painting. Rorup traveled widely, including to Italy, Austria, Spain, and most importantly to France, where his studies of the Impressionists and the Post-Impressionists had a great stylistic impact on his later work. His palette grew brighter, and his earlier defined contours were subsumed into the nuances of light. We are pleased to offer a dazzling work from the artist's late period, that exemplifies these later qualities of his mature work, harmoniously capturing the warmth and color of a southern summer landscape.

 

Exhibitions:

KE 1928-29, 1933-38; Corner Harvest 1939-41; Corner 1942- 71, 1981; Liljevalchs, Sth. 1946; Union Frcia 1947; Nordic Arts Association. 1947; Wild Wheat, Kunstindustrimus. 1948; New Carlsberg Foundation, Charlottenborg Palace, 1952; Cromisterne 1952;Kalundborg 1952; Da. contemporary art, Charlottenborg Palace 1956, 1958; Danish Institute Contemporary Art, Freedom Hall, Sønderborg 1961; Ostseeländer, Rostock 1961-62, 1969; Artists in Odsherred, 1977; Copenhagen 1978; Danish. landscapes, Norwegian Art Museum. 1981; Danish Cultural Institute, The Artists House, Ukraine 1986. Separate Exhibitions: Binger Gallery Copenhagen. 1938; Art Unite., Copenhagen. 1964 (retrosp.); Haagen-Müller Kunsthdl., Copenhagen. 1966; Farumgaard, Farum 1971 (Artist Retrospective); Odsherred painter Retrospective, Odsherreds Museum, 1983; Norwegian Art Museum. 1985; Odsherreds Art Museum. 1993; et al.

 

Literature:

Pol. 1.4.1957; 03/08/1983; 05/17/1985; Holbæk County Venstrebl. 28/06/1958; Ulf Hoffmann in: Cat. Corner, 1959; News 15/11/1964; Gunnar Jespersen: The abstract, 1967, 107; Berl. Time. 17/01/1971; Inger Hjorth Nielsen: Cat. Corner, 1971-72; January Garff in: Corner Book, 1973; HE Nørregård-Nielsen: Da. Art, I-II, 1983; Marianne Saabye: Odsherred painter VR, 1903-71, Odsherreds Mus., Nyk. S. 1983; Monika C. Blatschek in: VR, 1903-71, Odsherreds Kunstmuseum, Asnæs 1993; et al.