Aksel Waldemar Johannessen

Aksel Waldemar Johannessen
1880-1922. A Norwegian Expressionist.

Date: Nov 30 to Jan 11, daily 10 am-6 pm, closed on Tue
Ort: LEOPOLD MUSEUM
Curator: Rudolf Leopold
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The LEOPOLD MUSEUM is presenting a representative overview of the work of the rediscovered Norwegian painter Aksel Waldemar Johannessen. The artist\'s key works are being shown for the first time in Vienna in an exhibition featuring approximately forty paintings. Rudolf Leopold has personally selected the artworks to be shown in the exhibition.

Born in 1880, Aksel Waldemar Johannessen studied sculpture at the State Art School in Oslo. Together with his wife he founded a workshop for traditional clothing and folk art. He maintained close contact with the Norwegian literary couple Arne and Hulda Garbor, the founders of the Norwegian Theatre, for which he designed sets and costumes. Johannessen began painting in 1912, although his work as a painter remained for the most part unnoticed by those around him. Until his early death he produced numerous paintings, but refrained from letting them pass out of his ownership.

In these works Aksel Waldemar Johannessen devoted his attention to socially critical themes from the world of workers, drinkers and prostitutes, depicting their sensuality and their deprivations. His paintings provide insight into the disturbing abysses of human existence. Many works are painted in a crass realism and have a strikingly expressive effect. Like many of the protagonists in his paintings, the artist was also headed toward a dramatic end. Aksel Waldemar Johannessen\'s early death at the age of 42 was a consequence of excessive alcohol consumption. Among the causes of his desperation was his wife\'s affliction with cancer. She died a short time later.

Aksel Waldemar Johannessen did not live to experience the first exhibition of his paintings, which was presented by a leading Oslo gallery. After his death, the paintings soon fell into oblivion. His work remained unknown until it was rediscovered by the Norwegian art aficionado Haakon Mehren in 1990. Since then Johannessen\'s paintings have come to be considered a significant Norwegian contribution to Expressionism.

copyright:
Aksel Waldemar Johannessen Night Wanderer
© Private Collection