1936-09-30

[Med fremmed håndskrift:] Fantastic Exhibition

[Med Vilhelm Bjerke-Petersens håndskrift] September 30, 1936

Alfred H. Barr
11 West 53rd Street.
New York, N.Y.

Dear Sir:

I thank you very much for your kind letter which pleased me greatly, as I feel a strong interest for American conditions.

I always follow with the purchases of modern art to the collections in America as far as I am able to through the various catalogues etc. I greatly admire the living and understanding way whereupon modern art is treated in America.

I am sending, as you will see, besides the photographs you have asked for, a few more that I meant might be of interest to you. If you wish so, I could send you, with certain intervals, photographs of our new paintings, so you can follow with the developement of the movement here in Scandinavia.

The photographs of my own paintings, which I am sending, really represent an epoch in my production that is past. I shall send you photographs of my more recent work soon.

I would like to make use of the opportunity to ask you something which I would greatly appreciate if you would take the trouble to answer at your leisure. I thank you in advance.

I have nourished for several years a strong wish to come to the United States and to work there. With my knowledge of American conditions I absolutely believe that I would find myself well over there (by the way, my wife is an American) I have often thought over the possibility of finding something to do in the way of teaching,

[Side 2]

2

as that interests me very much.

At the present, I have private pupils.

I have always been theoretically interested and have thoroughly studied this centurys art in all its forms. I am a former pupil of "Bauhaus" in Dessau, Germany, my professors there were Kandinsky and Klee. I have my self earlier worked as abstract painter and have yet a great interest for this branch of the art, although I, for the present am connected to the surrealist movement.

I stand in close connection with the French surrealists. Here in Scandinavia I exercise, besides my painting, a great pedagogic activity as lecturer. Likewise I edit the only magazine for modern art in Scandinavia, "Konkretion", which I allow myself to send to you.

Do you think there is the least chance to be able to do anything in America, by instructing as in any other way? As it is my earnest intention, sooner or later to come to the United States.

You asked me if Eiler Bille paints, he does.

Yours very sincerely

Vilh. Bjerke-Petersen

I am from 1909. My father is museumsdirector Carl V. Petersen.

V. B. P.

[Side 3]

[Med fremmed håndskrift:] Photographs of work by
Scandinavian
surrealists =
(names only - [...]
[...] [...] + [...].
[...] color reprod
[ord overstreget] Gift of Vilhelm Bjerke-
Petersen

[Med Vilhelm Bjerke-Petersens håndskrift:]

a.

List of photographs: [dobbelt understreget]

1 Sven Jonson --------------- Dark silence
2 " --------------- The Morning of the plain
3 Wald Lorentzon ----------- A spiritual event.
4 " --------------- Cosmic Mother.
5 Vilh. Bjerke-Petersen ---- Hallucination
6 " --------------- Worshiped exhibitionism.
7 " --------------- Principal actress at X theater.
8 " --------------- Prayer.
9 " --------------- The suitcase murder.
10 " --------------- "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark"
11 Stellan Mörner ----------- Lady Macbeth.
12 " ----------- Solitude.
13 " ----------- Embarkation to-morrow night.
14 Harry Carlsson ----------- Unstable phlegm.
15 " ------------ The poodle's real core.
16 Axel Olson ----------------- Anchoring in reality.
17 " ----------------- Shipwreck.
18 Freddie --------------------- The artists' portrait
19 " --------------------- Emmy Hirsch in memoriam.
20 " --------------------- Solomonic inspiration.
21 " --------------------- Joys, triumphs and riddles.
22 " --------------------- Two film stars who have left the set in order to show each other their mutual sympathy,
without the cameras disturbing co-operation.
23 " --------------------- No, no, we don't sleep on the floor.
24 " --------------------- Grace Moore.
25 Erik Olson ------------------ The outer reef.
26 " ------------------ Dialogue in the night.
27 Rita Kernn-Larsen ------- Escape.
28 Esaias Thorén ------------ The searcher.
29 " ------------ Beach fantasy.

[side 4]

b.

30 Esaias Thorén ------------ The lady of corals
31 " ------------ The poet.

Color reproductions: [dobbelt understreget]

1 Sven Jonson ----------------- Dark silence.
2 Stellan Mörner --------------- Once my mother was young.
3 Erik Olson --------------------- Dialogue in the night.