Erik Ortvad (born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, 18 June 1917; died in Kvänjarp, 28 February 2008) was a painter and a creator of many drawings. He debuted as a painter in 1935. He is mostly known for colorful

surrealistic Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

paintings

He also created several hundred satire, satiric drawings about the modern way of life under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

''Enrico''. In 1948 he was a founding member of the COBRA

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

art movement. He is represented in the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and

Statens Museum for Kunst The National Gallery of Denmark ( da, Statens Museum for Kunst, also known as "SMK", literally State Museum for Art) is the Danish national gallery, located in the centre of Copenhagen. The museum collects, registers, maintains, researches and han ...

. During the

second world war World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

he lived as a refugee in Sweden due to communist sympathies and a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish wife, and in 1962 he returned and settled in a

croft Croft may refer to: Occupations * Croft (land), a small area of land, often with a crofter's dwelling * Crofting, small-scale food production * Bleachfield, an open space used for the bleaching of fabric, also called a croft Locations In the Uni ...

in Kvänjarp,

Ljungby Municipality Ljungby Municipality (''Ljungby kommun'') is a municipality in Kronoberg County, southern Sweden, where the town Ljungby is seat. In 1971 the ''City of Ljungby'' (1936-1970) was amalgamated with the rural municipalities surrounding it, thus creat ...

, Småland, Sweden where he lived for the rest of his life.

Bibliography

*Ortvad, Erik: ''Den "kære" familie'' (drawings under the name ''Enrico''), A/S Uniprint, Copenhagen 1971,

Sources

*Ljungberg, Pontus: ''Erik Ortvad 15.9 - 25.11 2007'

- an introduction to a retrospective exhibition *Brunskog, Per: ''Ljungbergmuseet, Ljungby: Erik Ortvad (15/9-25/11)'' 1917 births Danish painters Modern painters 2008 deaths Abstract painters Artists from Copenhagen 20th-century Danish people {{Denmark-painter-stub