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Ib Geertsen and Albert Mertz in front of Pustervig Art Dealer in 1944. Photo: Jørgen Roos

The exhibition MELLEM LINIERNE (Between The Lines) at Gallery Tom Christoffersen takes you back through three decades of Danish art connected by three generations of the artist group LINIEN. The exhibition consists of drawings, collages and photographs mostly from Ib Geertsen's collection but also with supplements from Susanne Mertz and Tobias Winther collections.

In 1934 Vilhelm Bjerke Petersen, Richard Mortensen and Ejler Bille formed the first LINIEN-group inspired by the Bauhaus school in Germany and abstract art in general. With a desire for a continuation of the efforts made by the first group younger artists formed LINIEN II in 1947. It consisted of Richard Winther, Albert Mertz and Ib Geertsen etc. and they invited the older colleagues Mortensen and Bjerke Petersen to participate in their exhibitions - the first held in restaurant Tokanten, autumn 1947. The connection to the thirties LINIEN-group was somewhat blurred in the Dadaist breaking mood at the exhibition. But a break was underway for several of the artists in these years, both the young and the elderly, and in the next two LINIEN exhibitions in 1948 and 1949 they seemed to have found there way with the geometric and formal abstract art in focus. The last LINIEN-group number III held in 1956 the exhibition Konkret Realisme (Concrete Realism) on the initiative of the original founder Richard Mortensen and where Aagaard Andersen, Gadegaard and Geertsen was still participating – where as Ole Schwalbe here joined the group for the first time. In 1958 LINIEN held there last exhibition Linien igen (Linien Again).

The exhibition MELLEM LINIERNE is a selected incursion through the intimate medium of drawing, from a group of artists who inspired and influenced each other across generations. The main focus is on works by the mentor Richard Mortensen and the founders of LINIEN II Ib Geertsen, Albert Mertz and Richard Winther.

Thanks to Birthe Geertsen, Susanne Mertz and Tobias Winther.