MORTENSEN, RICHARD

born Oct. 23, 1910, Copenhagen, Den. Danish painter whose large, colouristic compositions of the 1930s, influenced by Wassily Kandinsky, were the first important abstract works in Danish art. Mortensen studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen but left after two years to work independently. During the 1930s he founded the Linien Group of abstract painters in Copenhagen. He first saw Kandinsky's work in Berlin in 1932, and the impact was profound. Except for a brief experimentation with Surrealism, Mortensen remained committed to geometric abstraction, conveying through vivid colour and lively rhythm a sense of spontaneity within hard-edged structure. After World War II he lived in Paris. Mortensen also designed tapestries and stage settings.