Orla Muff

Orla Muff (Danish, 1903-1984).

This work is offered unframed.

An early 20th century Art Deco-derived Expressionist oil of a vivacious young woman, shown smoking a cigarette and contrasted against a turquoise background. Painted when he was in his early thirties, Muff has accomplished a remarkably dramatic and psychologically penetrating portrait of his exuberant subject.

Orla Muff received his first formal art instruction at the Copenhagen Technical School from 1917-21, where he studied with the theatrical painter Carl Lund. He subsequently traveled, studied and painted throughout Europe including in France, Germany, Sweden and Holland.

In the early years of his career, Muff was acclaimed as a designer of sophisticated Art Deco sets for prominent theatrical productions and revues throughout Europe. These included productions for Max Reinhardt's Theater in Berlin, the Mayol Theater in Oslo and Copenhagen's Folk Theater, among others. In the early 1930s, he turned his attention to easel painting, creating portraits and figural works as well as abstract paintings composed in a predominantly light color scale. His figures from this period are often mythologically derived, with a high degree of Art Deco stylization and contrasted against essentially abstract, and often monochrome, backgrounds. During the course of a long career, Orla Muff exhibited widely and with success and was the recipient of numerous prizes and juried awards.

Signed 'Muff' lower left

Weilbach, Dansk Kunstnerleksikon, the Castle and Cultural Agency, Copenhagen; Extrabl. 4/13/1940; 17.7.1940 Berl. Time. 7/29/1957; Day. Nyh. 9/22/1957; et al.