(American born Denmark, 1883 - 1972)
Times Square, New York
Oil on canvas board, 15 7/8 x 11 7/8 inches
Signed at lower right: “Johann Berthelsen”
Provenance: Elizabeth (Brenizer) Abbott, NE; Mabel Meier, NE (1972); Aaron Onate, NE
About the Artist
(American born Denmark, 1883 - 1972)
Johann Berthelsen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He emigrated to the United States, lived in Wisconsin for a time and finally settled in New York City where he started his career as a painter, specializing in winter scenes. His New York City street scenes, alive with bustling people, cars, and flags flying, put themselves right in the tradition of Childe Hassam's flag series and closely associate themselves with the work of Guy Wiggins (1883-1962). Berthelsen was a member of the Salmagundi Club, the American Watercolor Society, and the Allied American Artists, all in New York City. In 1928 he won the Erskine prize in Chicago and in 1946 the Holcombe prize in Indianapolis. His watercolor Lights on the Circle was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1925. His works are in the Sembrich Memorial, Lake George, New York, the Terre Haute Museum, Indiana, the Wake Forest College, North Carolina and the Texas Technical College. In 1953, Berthelsen's address was New Milford, Connecticut.
