Else Alfelt – The Aesthetics of Emptiness

16/09/2010

16 Sep. 2010 – 20 Feb. 2011
Exhibition catalogue: Tomhedens Æstetik (The Aesthetics of Emptiness)
This large-scale exhibition celebrates the hundredth anniversary of one of the most significant women artists in Danish modernism: the painter Else Alfelt (1910-74). As a woman artist in the 1930s – one who even ventured into abstract painting – she was at first marginalized on several fronts. She fought to gain recognition as an artist and engaged herself in the artist associations of the period, often as the only woman. She was thus one of a few female members of the Høst exhibitions and of the later so renowned Cobra movement. In light of the recent focus on especially the Cobra movement, it is essential to point out that Else Alfelt was an artist whose oeuvre has its own legitimacy and stands alone. Viewed from today's perspective, she holds a unique position in Danish modernism – gifted with a rare colourist talent and blessed with a firm will and artistic integrity.