Johann Berthelsen

Born in Copenhagen in 1883, Johann Berthelsen was the 7th of seven sons, to Conrad and Dorothea Karen Berthelsen. His parents moved in artistic and professional circles. He began a friendship with the painter, Wayman Adams. A native of Muncie, Indiana, Adams had studied with William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri in Spain and Italy and had already established a reputation as a portraitist. Adams and Berthelsen were to remain best friends for the remainder of their lives. Adams would paint many significant portraits of Berthelsen including a life-sized image of his friend preparing to go on stage.
In 1920, seeking to advance their careers, Berthelsen and Adams moved to New York, where both achieved rapid success.

From 1920 through the late ’50s , Wayman Adams painted some of his best-known works. As a hobby, he created pastels and watercolors featuring New York scenes. They were exhibited to excellent reviews, and in 1926, he was elected to membership in the American Watercolor Society.

In August of 1942, Berthelsen and his family family moved to a small cottage in rural New Milford, Connecticut. The surrounding fields and mountains became the subject of many of Johann’s landscape paintings.