Today
his work hangs from the Royal Palace in Norway to the Vesterheim, the
Iron Workers headquarters in Washington, D.C. to galleries in Brooklyn
and scores of private collections.
Imagine a man
50 stories above the city streets, perched on scaffolding, dressed
in overalls and a hardhat, with a paintbrush in his hand. He is not
painting the walls of a newly built skyscraper; he is painting a canvas
with his interpretation of the city before him. It
could be lunch time or late in the afternoon, when most of the crew
has left the structure forming beneath them, but whatever time of
day, the task is the same: capture as much of the feel and the sights
of the "high steel" as possible before the sun bids adieu
to the grand structure that consumes his day.
The man I describe
is Bernhard Berntsen and the work he is involved with is the building
of some of our great American cities. All the while he captures the
sights of his job with oil paints and grease pencil drawings. Early
in his painting career, Berntsen painted scenes mostly from the construction
sites ("Steel Girders") where he worked and from the daily
life around him.
Several decades
after he began painting, his eye turned to the equestrian world. ("Steeplechases")
There are those who will be remembered for their contributions to
science and progress, those who captured a moment in time or an idea
through the arts, and those who made a lasting impression on our spirits
as humanitarians. Bernhard Berntsen will be remembered for all of
these things.
Whether he was
helping to build one of the great skyscrapers of New York City or
putting the final touches on an oil painting on a Saturday afternoon,
Berntsen was making impressions that last to this day. He was also
making lasting impressions on the people he met along the way. He
had a love of life and a love of people that spanned most of the 20th
Century.
112
pages, 9" x 11", Hardcover, B&W, © 2001
Order
Number: LOP530..........$24.95
