PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST MICHALOFF WIGDEHL
signed with monogram, dedicated Tu HØ and dated 09 lower right; bears the inscription Michaloff Wigdehl / Tegning av / Henrik Soørensen / 1909 on a label stuck to the backboard
black chalk on buff paper
21.5 x 15cm; 8 1/2 x 6in
45 x 39cm; 17 3/4 x 15 1/4in (framed)

Property of a Private Collection

Provenance
Madeleine Thomas, Oslo (a gift from the artist in the 1950s)
By descent from the above to the present owner

It has been suggested that Sørensen's inscription Tu HØ above his monogram is most likely a dedication to his fellow painter Hans Ødegaard (Norwegian 1876-1943). The two painters were close; a portrait in oil by Ødegaard of Sørensen is in the National Museum, Oslo.

Sørensen's sitter in the present work is the painter Michaloff Wigdehl (Norwegian1856-1921), who grew up in Gildeskål on the remote west coast of Norway, midway between Tromsøe and Trondheim. In the 1890s he attended the Royal Drawing School in Kristiania (modern day Oslo), was taught by Harriet Backer (1898-1901) and befriended Nicolai Astrup (1880-1928). A pupil of Lauritz Tuxen in Copenhagen 1904-05, he visited Berlin, returning thereafter to settle back in Gildeskål. His work is in the Rasmus Meyer Collection, Bergen and the National Gallery, Oslo.

Henrik Sørensen was twenty-five years Wigdehl's junior. He studied in Kristiania, Copenhagen and in Paris, first at the Académie Colarossi and subsequently with Matisse (1908-10) alongside Alf Lundeby (see lot 208). He first came to public attention when his painting Varietéartist was purchased by the influential Swedish painter, collector and socialite Prince Eugen. His work is in the National Gallery, Olso and a large wall mural by him is in Oslo City Hall.

offered for sale without reserve