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Valdemar Andersen (1875-1928) Valdemar Andersen was born in Copenhague in 1875. He was a very well-known illustrator in his country, and he has often been praised as caricaturist for his works in the newspaper Kolds-Hans. From 1908 to 1909 when the big exposition city was constructed for "Landsudstillingen" in 1909, it was decided that the buildings should be decorated. With its white temple-like buildings and friezes in bright colours, the city should create recollections of ancient Greece. The artist Valdemar Andersen was hired to do this job, and during the winther and spring of 1909, he worked almost day and night to finish the decoration of the city. As the city was demolished at the end of 1909, none of the original paintings are preserved. Only the old photos from 1909 give a true impression of the fine works of decoration. Århus Bymuseum has in its possession, however, a considerable collection of the original sketches for the paintings, used by Valdemar Andersen. The sketches in question consist of seven partly coloured drawings on thick paper. Most of the drawings are not fully coloured, as there was too little time to get both the city and the decoration finished in time. The sketches, however, still give a fairly good impression of Valdemar Andersen's artistic skills.
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