Johann Berthelsen: Snowy Sonatas

by Susan VP Barrett

Johann Berthelsen Am. 1883-1972 Brooklyn Bridge Tower, New York, N.Y. Oil on canvas 10 1/8 x 8 1/8 in. Framed:15 x 13 in. Signed lower right

Johann Henrik Carl Berthelsen (1883-1972) is one of the most popular American Impressionist painters of New York City, best known for his exquisitely rendered cityscapes in the winters which were often compared to the works of Guy Wiggins and Childe Hassam. This time of year collectors are particularly apt to acquire one of these iconic oils to enhance their art collections. Such intense demand for these paintings has made it increasingly difficult to find such gems as Fifth Avenue, Looking South from 60^th Street or Brooklyn Bridge Tower, New York, N.Y. Ironically Berthelsen’s first artistic passion was music and not art.   In 1901 Berthelsen emigrated from Copenhagen to America with his family to study voice at the Chicago Musical College owned by the Ziegfeld family during this golden age of opera. Eventually he combined his love of music with his love for art devoting himself fulltime his time to the rendering of his snowscapes which he referred to as “painted orchestrations” of Manhattan. Berthelsen portrayed life as it unfolded around him in the city daily with all its energy.  These paintings are “time capsules” of a bygone era with their specific dress, locations, and habits of people long ago. His paintings enjoy wide audience appeal especially today as they are easy to understand and comfortable to live with.