Established 2002

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Preben Hornung (1919-1989), was a Danish painter. Preben Hornung visited both the School of Crafts and the Academy of Arts in Kbh., for a few years in the 40s he went to Kræsten Iversen and Aksel Jørgensen, but he did not settle in and later characterized the years at the academy as "pure waste". The debut took place at the Artists' Autumn Exhibition 1947. At that time, Preben Hornung cultivated realistic motifs, landscapes, garden pictures, interiors with figures and scenes from the outskirts of the city, etc., and the way of painting was strongly influenced by French late impressionism, especially Pierre Bonnard. A radical turn in the way of expression happened in 1948 when he painted at the Steel Rolling Mill in Frederiksværk. From now on, the images became abstract constructive and based on a greatly simplified colorite grouped around the black/white. In the early 1950s, the strict constructive style softened, and a greater painterly expression took place after he came up with Langebro as a motif, later railway barriers and crossings were included in his world of motifs, and the picturesque language gradually freed up until the motif connection almost completely disappeared in the 60s, and the development then moved around a lyrical picturesque language with far more discerning and limited use of shapes and colours.

From 1977, Preben Hornung began painting portraits, and among his 30 portraits he painted, among other things, portraits of Queen Margrethe, 1981, 1983 and 1985.

In addition to great diligence in the field of painting, Preben Hornung placed great emphasis on utilizing his talent in other visual artistic forms. Something of a breakthrough work was the large glass mosaic (12 x 14 m) which he made for the sugar factories' administration building in Kbh. 1958, but in addition to this Preben Hornung made a number of other decorations, glass mosaics at the Technical School, Tomsgårdsvej, Kbh., 1966–67 and Haderslev Katedralskole, 1973, a mosaic for Skanderborg municipal school, 1969, as well as picturesque decorations: the city council hall in Rødovre town hall, 1959, the Studenterhuset at Århus university, 1964 (moved 1973) and Frederiksværk County High School as well as several others.

On the exhibition front, Preben Hornung also marked his extensive artistic activity, i.a. at retrospective exhibitions in Fyns stifts Kunstmuseum, Odense 1966 and Kunstforeningen in Kbh. 1976, but it has also resulted in a large number of exhibitions abroad. Preben Hornung is extensively represented in our art museums and public collections.