Mogens Balle, Figural Composition, 20th Century, Oil on Canvas

Mogens Balle, (1921-1988) Copenhagen, Denmark A composition by Balle with figures. Oil on canvas applied in a thick layer Signed lower left (Balle M) and reverse No title and no date Framed 67 wide and 54 cm high Details in the pictures Mogens Balle was born as Mogens Erik Schack Balle in Copenhagen in 1921. He was active as a painter and writer. First he learned for to be an architect, but he discontinued this course because he wanted to engage with visual arts. His first works are naturalistic. From 1945, this changed when he switched to abstract painting. Common motifs in his oeuvre are mythical and fantasy creatures. A year later, in 1946, he traveled to Paris and it is here where he came into contact with artists who similarly worked in an expressive and spontaneous way. Balle was co-founder of the Danish artist union Spirals (1947). Asger Jorn (1914-1973 is the reason why Balle came in contact with the members of the CoBrA movement in 1949. Balle his work was, along with that of Karel Appel (1921-2006), Corneille (1922-2010), Asger Jorn and Egill Jacobsen (1910-1998), exhibited in Paris, but not during the CoBrA exhibitions in Amsterdam (1949) and Liege (1951). After the disintegration of the CoBrA group, the works of Balle became more spontaneous and abstract. From the 50’s he created several peinture-mots (word paintings). He did this with former CoBrA member Christian Dotremont (1922-1979). Peinture-mots, words and pictures are merged together as one whole in a single work. From the 1960s Balle began to make bronze fantasy figures.