Lot 152: 2 Johann Berthelsen O/C Paintings, Snowy New York City Street & Flower Seller

Two (2) Johann Berthelsen (Danish/American, 1883-1972) New York City street scene paintings. 1st item: Oil on canvas Manhattan winter cityscape with two American flags that blow in the wind at lower center. A canopy extends from the partially visible building at left and pedestrians walk along the sidewalk nearby, with other, more distant figures and a vehicle obscured by snow and wind. Signed lower right. Housed in a giltwood frame with cream linen liner. Sight: 15 1/2 in. H x 11 1/2 in. W. Framed: 20 in. H x 16 in. W. 2nd item: Oil on paperboard genre painting with two women who stand on a sidewalk before a flower shop or greengrocer with bananas prominently hung in the window. The women discuss an item held by the woman at right while a girl cradles a baby and watches from the steps of a brownstone at left. Unsigned. Housed in a giltwood frame with cream linen liner. Sight: 15 1/2 in. H x 11 3/8 in. W. Framed: 21 3/8 in. H x 17 7/16 in. W. Note: Berthelsen painted the 2nd item en verso of the 1st, on canvas laid to paperboard. The canvas was later removed from the board, which allowed both paintings to be individually framed. Biography: Johann Berthelsen came to America as a child, and enjoyed early success as an opera singer and music teacher. His friendship with the artist Wayman Adams resulted in a move to New York and experimentation with painting. When the Great Depression took a toll on his musical career, Berthelsen began selling oil scenes of his beloved New York City, which quickly found prominent buyers including William Randolph Hearst. While he also painted pastoral and mountain landscapes, Berthelson’s snow scenes of Manhattan are particularly prized. (Source: Askart: The Artists’ Bluebook. Alternate spelling: Johann Berthelson ). 

PROVENANCE:

Private Tennessee collection.

CONDITION:

Both items in overall very good condition. Both professionally conserved by James Swope Fine Arts Conservation, West Palm Beach, FL, in 2002. 1st item with scattered retouching primarily to buildings at left and right and to foreground snow. Largest areas to center right, in building, 2 1/4 inch x 1/4 inch, and to snow, lower center edge, 1 inch x 3/4 inch. See UV photography. Fine cracks to snow along lower edge. Liner with staining specks along lower edge. 2nd item with minor, scattered retouching primarily to upper left corner, in doorway behind figure. More extensive inpainting or retouching to upper and lower edges, likely to unfinished areas and/or areas with abrasions and loss as a result of the canvas having been folded around the board. See UV photography.