Cathinca Olsen

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Vilhelmine Cathinca Olsen was a ceramicist. She was born on 3.8.1868 in Copenhagen and died 13.9.1947. She was an artist of the Art Nouveau period. Her mother was Juliane Marie Olsen. Cathinca Olsen was unmarried.
Cathinca Olsen is one of the pioneers of Danish stoneware. At Bing & Grondahl, however, she first worked with porcelain, among other things under J.F. Willumsen in the late 1890s. But when the factory's stoneware production began under the direction of architect Carl Petersen around 1912, she became one of the leading artists in this field from the very beginning. It was the decoration that interested her in particular, but there was to be harmony between it and the shape she drew. In the simple, powerful motifs, which consist of more or less recognizable leaf motifs or landscapes, she seeks to reconcile the living and rhythmic with the strict and ornamental. The motifs are characterized by her love for the East and are fine representatives of the Japanese of the time. This influence from Oriental ornamentation was further reinforced after a trip to India 1928-29. Olsen's earliest stoneware work was done with the decoration painted over or under the glaze, but soon she switched to a special technique where she cut the ornament into the unglowed shard, after which she painted, often with ocher and black, under the glaze. For a time she also worked on soft porcelain, but from about 1930 until her death she worked almost exclusively on stoneware. In addition to ceramics, Olsen has done numerous studio drawings, watercolors and embroidery drawings.
Cathinca Olsen was an autodidact, she travelled to India 1928/29. She was employed at Bing & Gröndahl's Porcelain Factory. 1896- 1947.
Cathinca Olsen was awarded with the Gold Medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1925.."

Main information source: Kunstindex Danmark & Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon