Vibeke Mencke Nielsen: A Line in the Sand - A Graphic Lifework

Visual artist Vibeke Mencke Nielsen (b. 1937) has had a significant impact on the Danish art scene – both as an eminent graphic artist and as the first female art professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts where she left a decisive mark on the School of Graphic Arts and influenced several generations of younger artists, all of whom have challenged and developed the graphic techniques.

Nevertheless, Vibeke Mencke Nielsen is a more a less unrecognized figure in Danish art history, and her own art in particular has received very little attention. This is despite the fact that she leaves behind an extensive and multifaceted body of work, consisting of painting, watercolour, drawing, decorations and not least a large graphic art production, which in both expression and motifs is a unique contribution to Danish graphic art.

Vibeke Mencke Nielsen’s graphic lifework is now presented in the largest exhibition to date. The words ‘A line in the sand’ are Vibeke Mencke Nielsen’s own. They refer partly to the fundamental role that the line plays in printmaking, and partly to the fact that Mencke Nielsen as a professor drew a line in the sand and thus challenged the existing teaching at and organisation of the School of Graphic Arts and the contemporary derogatory view on graphic art.

In 2019, Vibeke Mencke Nielsen gave her entire graphic art production and archive to Vendsyssel Museum of Art where she is already represented with artworks from residencies at Hjørring Grafisk Værksted and Steinprent in Tórshavn. The museum now has the largest collection of her works with over 600 prints and extensive archival material.

The exhibition presents a wide selection of the collection: from the first linocuts depicting Norwegian nature, over the numerous etchings of everyday life from the 1970s and 1980s, to the drypoints of recent years that express the artist’s strong social engagement. In the exhibition these recurrent lines draw a full and versatile picture of Vibeke Mencke Nielsen as both an artist, teacher, mentor and innovator.

The exhibition is supported by: Beckett-Fonden, Ny Carlsbergfondet, Statens Kunstfond samt Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond.