Harald Leth (5 January 1899 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 ...

– 14 March 1986 in

Ålsgårde Ålsgårde is a former fishing village on the north coast of Zealand, Denmark, located six kilometer northwest of Helsingør. Formerly Ålsgårde was a separate town, but today it has merged with the neighbouring town of Hellebæk into an urban ...

) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

painter whose Naturalistic work was inspired by

Johannes Larsen Johannes Larsen (27 December 1867 – 20 December 1961) was a Danish nature painter. Biography Larsen was born in Kerteminde on Funen, Denmark. He was the son of Jeppe Andreas L. and Vilhelmine Christine Bless. His father was a merchant. Lar ...

of the

Funen Painters The Funen Painters or ''Fynboerne'' were a loose group of Denmark, Danish artists who formed an art colony on the island of Funen at the very beginning of the 20th century. They were strongly influenced by Kristian Zahrtmann who taught at the Kuns ...

and

Oluf Høst Oluf Høst (18 March 1884 – 14 May 1966) was a Danish Expressionist painter, the only member of the Bornholm school who was a native Bornholmer. Although he studied in Copenhagen, he returned to the Danish island of Bornholm in 1929 where h ...

of the Bornholm School.Hans-Edvard Nørregård-Nielsen, "Dansk kunst", Copenhagen, Guldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag, 2006. Pages 497 and 613.

Biography

After first studying medicine, Leth spent a few months with Johannes Larsen at Kerteminde in 1921 before attending

Harald Giersing Harald Giersing (24 April 1881 – 15 January 1927) was a Danish painter. He was instrumental in developing the classic modernism movement in Denmark around 1910-1920. He is remembered as one of Denmark's most important 20th-century artists both f ...

's painting school (1921–1923). He was also taught by

Olaf Rude Olaf Rude (26 April 1886 – 17 June 1957) was a Art of Denmark, Danish painter. He was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Art from 1953 to 1956. He is remembered in particular for his paintings of oak trees at Skejten on Lolland, two of ...

(1923–1924) and for a short time by P. Rostrup Boyesen. He exhibited at the Charlottenborg autumn exhibition in 1923. He was a member of ''Høstudstillingen'' (1934–1944), ''Koloristerne'' (1946–1950) and ''Martsudstillingen'' (1951–1982).

Artwork

During his summers on the island of

Bornholm Bornholm () is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. It has usually been ruled by ...

in the 1920s, Leth became acquainted with Oluf Høst and was later influenced by the work of

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast ...

and by

Johan Lundbye Johan Thomas Lundbye (1 September 1818 – 25 April 1848) was a Danish painter and graphic artist, known for his animal and landscape paintings. He was inspired by Niels Laurits Høyen's call to develop nationalistic art through depictions of De ...

and

Theodor Philipsen Theodor Esbern Philipsen (10 June 18403 March 1920) was a Danish painter of Jewish ancestry; known for landscapes and animal portraits. He also did small figures in wax and clay. Biography Theodor Philipsen was born at Copenhagen to a cultured me ...

, developing his own intensively Naturalistic style. He mainly painted landscapes, animals, still lifes and interiors, often in small formats. From 1944, when he moved to Asminderød Mark in the north of

Zealand Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

, he painted in an increasingly Colouristic style. Many of his paintings can be seen in the

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 ...

and at the

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is an art museum located on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the most visited art museum in Denmark, and has an extensive permanent collection of modern and cont ...

Awards

Leth was awarded the

Eckersberg Medal The Eckersberg Medal (originally the ''Akademiets Aarsmedaille'' or Annual Academy Medal) is an annual award of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. It is named after Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, known as the father of Danish painting. The Ec ...

in 1958, the

Thorvaldsen Medal The Thorvaldsen Medal (Danish: Thorvaldsens Medalje, Thorvaldsen Medaillen) is awarded annually with few exceptions to a varying number of recipients by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and is its highest distinction within the visual arts. It ...

in 1966 and the

Prince Eugen Medal The Prince Eugen Medal ( sv, Prins Eugen-medaljen) is a medal conferred by the King of Sweden for "outstanding artistic achievement". The medal was established in 1945 by the then King of Sweden, Gustaf V, in connection with the eightieth birthd ...

in 1983.

Selected works

The following works are in the collection of Statens Museum for Kunst:"Works by Harald Leth"
, ''Statens Museum for Kunst''. Retrieved 26 August 2011. *''Vignet'' (1922) *''Græssende ko'' (1924) *''Fjorden ved Lemvig'' (1926) *''Græssende ko ved havet. Gudhjem'' (1928) *''Siddende nøgen model'' (1933) *''Ved Gudhjem. Marine med fartøjer'' (1935) *''Lillehammer. Februar. Tømmerslæder'' (1937) *''Bondeslagtning'' (1939) *''Liggende kalv i stald'' (1939) *''Hoved af en bondekone, mellem en kat, en kalv og en hane'' (1944) *''Landskab med mennesker og dyr'' (1945) *''Mand med heste. Solnedgang. Asminderød mark'' (1948) *''Nøgne træer. Grå forårsdag'' (1952) *''Solnedgang. Vinter'' (1953) *''Snelandskab i solskin'' (1954) *''Opstilling med røde tulipaner'' (ca 1960) *''Løven og Jupiter i opgang'' (1962) *''Fad med røde æbler'' (1967) *''Opstilling med kande, æbler og flaske'' (1968) *''Solnedgang sent på året'' (1968) *''Badende kvinder'' (1968) *''Køretøj i vinterskoven'' (1970-1979) *''Landskab ved kysten med liggende badepige'' (1975)

References

External links

Gallery of works by Harald Leth at the Holsterbro Kunstmuseum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leth, Harald 20th-century Danish painters 1899 births 1986 deaths Artists from Copenhagen Recipients of the Prince Eugen Medal Recipients of the Eckersberg Medal Recipients of the Thorvaldsen Medal