Helle Thorborg (born 12 April 1927) is a Danish painter and

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

. In her colour graphics, she uses strong contrasts creating images resembling collages. She has decorated a number of Danish buildings, including the pulpit in Gimsing Church near Struer, and has designed scenery for the

Folketeatret Folketeateret is a theatre in Oslo, Norway. The building has been used as a movie theatre and as an opera house. The theatre has 1,400 seats. History The theatre itself operated from 1952 to 1959, but the institution has a much longer history. ...

's experimental stage.

Early life and education

Born on 12 April 1927 in

Gentofte Gentofte () is a district of Gentofte Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Major landmarks include Gentofte Town Hall, Gentofte Hospital and Gentofte Church. Gentofte Lake with surrounding parkland and nature reserves form ...

, Helle Thorborg was the daughter of the parliamentary secretary Johannes Levinsen Thorborg (1896–1992) and Grete Fog (1903–1993). She was brought up in an academic environment. Despite the scepticism of her family, she was set on becoming an artist. From 1947 to 1954, she attended the

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi - Billedkunst Skolerne) has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Dani ...

, studying painting and graphics under

Aksel Jørgensen Aksel Jørgensen (3 February 1883 – 9 June 1957) was a Denmark, Danish painter and Wood engraving, wood engraver. He is also remembered for his years as the director and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Royal Danish Academy whe ...

and Holger J. Jensen. In 1954, she married the architect Carl Henry Beckmann with whom she had three children, Gertrud (1956), Laurids Reidar (1957) and Marius Ingvar (1959).

Career

Thorborg first exhibited at the Charlottenborg autumn show in 1952 and, encouraged by art dealer , had her first solo exhibition at Clausens Kunsthandel in 1954 which attracted graphic artists. It was there that she sold most of her works. In 1958, she became a member of Koloristerne, a group of colourist painters, presenting works at their 1959 exhibition. She also participated regularly at the Thisted Exhibition when at her farmhouse in Thy. It was there she found inspiration working with local artists such as the photographer

Kirsten Klein Kirsten Klein (born 1945) is a Danish photographer who since the mid-1970s has lived on the island of Mors. She has become one of Denmark's foremost landscape photographers, developing a highly characteristic, somewhat melancholic style, frequent ...

, as well as with those who spend their holidays there. Together with the Graphic Artists Association (''Grafiske Kunstnersamfund''), she also exhibited in Europe, the United States and Chile. Thorborg's sensitivity can be seen in her illustrations of

García Lorca García or Garcia may refer to: People * García (surname) * Kings of Pamplona/Navarre ** García Íñiguez of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 851/2–882 ** García Sánchez I of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 931–970 ** García Sánchez II of Pampl ...

's ''Blodbryllup''. Her art has developed from naturalistic to a more abstract approach. In addition to her graphic works, she has also created watercolours and drawings, especially those of old bottles and other objects she found washed up on the beach during her long stays in Thy. While her creations have usually been quite small, in 1988 she completed the extensive decoration of the pulpit in Gimsing Church near Struer. In 1984, she won first prize in the Danish National Bank's contest for design new bank notes although her submission was not used. She has also designed stage sets and has written many articles, often illustrating the catologues of the Danish Colourist Society. Following an exhibition by the Danish Colourists in 2007, in 2015, her work was exhibited at the Kunstforeningen in

Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping street and the site of ...

, the town where Thorborg now lives.

Awards

Helle Thorborg has received several awards including the

Tagea Brandt Rejselegat The Tagea Brandts ''Rejselegat'' (Travel Scholarship) is a Danish award to women who have made a significant contribution in science, literature or art. The grant, which is given without application, was created and endowed by Danish industrialist ...

(1981), 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 ...

(1990) and the

Anne Marie Telmányi Anne Marie Frederikke Telmányi née Nielsen (1893–1983) was a Danish painter and writer. In addition to landscapes and mythological subjects, she is remembered in particular for her portraits of important figures of the times. Her writings incl ...

prize (1994).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorborg, Helle 1927 births Living people People from Gentofte Municipality Danish painters Danish women painters Danish graphic designers Recipients of the Eckersberg Medal Danish women graphic designers