OTHER

HENRIC ANKARCRONA (1831-1917) SWEDEN

MOTIF FROM THE THEATRE OF MARCELLUS, 1879
MOTIV FRÅN MARCELLUSTEATERN, 1879  

oil on paper
signed with monogram och dated HA 79
19.5 x 14.5 cm
with frame 29 x 24 cm    

Provenance:  A Swedish private collection

Nils Forsberg (1842-1934) Swedish

Oil Sketch for the Painting "Gustavus II Adolphus before the Battle of Lützen"

oil on canvas
painted c. 1895-1899
stamp signed on the front and authenticated a tergo
canvas dimensions 18.30 x 24.21 inches (46.5 x 61.5 cm)
frame 22.44 x 28.34 inches (57 x 72 cm)

Essay: 
This piece is a oil sketch for the renowned masterpiece 'Gustavus II Adolphus before the Battle of Lützen', currently housed in the Göteborgs Konstmuseum. 

The allure of an unfinished oil sketch lies in its ability to offer a rare glimpse into the artist's creative process, revealing the initial conception of the motif. Historically, the spontaneous and often rapid execution of such sketches has fascinated art collectors. Notably, masters like Rubens and Van Dyck were known to intentionally leave their works in a seemingly 'unfinished' state, often completing them in under an hour.

Nils Forsberg's artistic journey took a pivotal turn when he left Sweden in his mid-twenties for a brief trip to Paris. This excursion, initially planned for just a few weeks, unexpectedly extended to a 35-year sojourn from 1867 to 1902. During this period, Forsberg honed his craft under the tutelage of the esteemed painter Léon Bonnat. It was at Bonnat's school where he crossed paths with the prominent Swedish artist Gustaf Cederström.

Forsberg's talent culminated in his largest work, 'Gustaf Adolf before the Battle of Lützen', which he showcased at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. The oil sketch we possess is a crucial preparatory study, focusing on one of the figures in this grand painting. This character is positioned to the far right, a detail more closely explored this image: 

Provenance:
From a private collection, Sweden

 

 

Anonymous, Cuzco School

A Portrait of Archangel Raphael With Fish

oil on canvas
1800s
canvas dimensions 22.24 x 15.74 inches (56.5 x 40 cm)
frame 26.77 x 20.47 inches (68 x 52 cm)

Provenance: A Swedish private collection

Charles Bouchez (1811-1882) French

A Soldier Blowing the Trumpet

oil on canvas
signed and dated ch. Bouchez 1842
canvas dimensions 6.29 x 4.13 inches (16 x 10.5 cm)
frame 10.23 x 7.87 inches (26 x 20 cm)

Provenance:
A Swedish Private Collection

Carl Bille (1815-1898) Danish

A Ship in Stormy Seas

oil on paper mounted on canvas
signed and dated C Bille 1873
canvas dimensions 12.59 x 15.35 inches (32 x 39 cm)
frame 15.74 18.89 inches (40 x 48 cm)

Provenance:
A Swedish Private Collection

 

A beautiful maritime painting by Danish artist Carl Bille (1815-1898).
He is best known for his dramatic depictions of the sea, often with stormy weather, both daylight and moonlight appear in his paintings.

Alf Wallander (1862-1914) Sweden

Café Scene (Café interiör)

oil on board
signed Alf Wallander
frame 31.49 x 26.77 inches (80 x 68 cm)
panel size 23.89 x 19.29 inches (60.7 x 49 cm)

Provenance:
Sothebys London, lot 178, 07 June 2011, Sale Number: L11112;
Private Collection Sweden

Alf Wallander was the son of the architect Adolf Wallander and Hildegard Sofia Blom. Wallander studied at the Stockholm Royal Academy of Fine Arts 1880–1885, where he had his uncle as a teacher for a while. He further studied for Aimé Morot and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant in Paris 1885–1889, where he also participated in the Paris Salon in 1889. At the 1889 World's Fair in Paris, he was awarded first prize for his pastel painting Tiggargubbe (Today in Göteborgs Konstmuseum collection). When he returned to Sweden in 1890, he stood behind the controversial group "Opponenterna" and participated in the group's exhibitions during the 1890s. He began his artistic career as a painter and was a member of the Swedish Artists' Association. Under the influence of his friend Oscar Björck in the 1890s, he adopted a symbolist style, which later reappeared in his ceramics.

From 1910 until his death, he was also curator of the Swedish General Art Association and, from 1908, headteacher of freehand drawing at the Technical School in Stockholm. With his wife Gerda Wallander, he exhibited at the Artists' House in 1910 and at the Swedish General Art Association in 1914 and with Oscar Björck, Bruno Liljefors and Prince Eugene at Blanch's Art Salon in Stockholm in 1891. He participated in the Art Academy's exhibition in 1885 arranged by Norrland Art Association in Sundsvall and Söderhamn and the Swedish Artists' Association's exhibitions in Gothenburg, Chicago, Munich, Berlin, Malmö and Paris.
Wallander is represented at Gothenburg Art Museum, Hallwylsiska Museet, National Museum Stockholm, Minneapolis Museum, Nordic Museum, Thielska Galleriet, Prince Eugens Waldemarsudde, Norrköping Art Museum, Uppsala University Library, Louvre Abu Dhabi and Behn. -House in Lübeck.

Dick Beer (b. London 1893 - d. Stockholm 1938) 

oil on canvas
canvas dimensions 54 x 47 cm
signed and dated Dick Beer 1914
painted 1914

Exhibited:
Varias Konstsalong, Stockholm, 1916;
Millesgården – Dick Beer – Impressionist & Kubist, 2012

Provenance:
Within the family Beer until today

Dick Beer (1893-1938)

Dick Beer was born in London in 1893. His father, John Beer (1853-1906), was a Swedish painter from Stockholm who had a career mainly as a watercolour painter with motifs of horses from racetracks and fox hunts from the countryside.

Barely fifteen years old, Dick Beer became an orphan and came to Sweden in 1907. Already in 1908-1909, he started at Althin's painting school in Stockholm. And later, at the Royal Academy of Arts from 1910-1912. His teachers were, among others, Gustaf Cederström, Oscar Björk and Alfred Bergström. 

At this time, Many artists went to Paris, and Dick Beer wasn't an exception; he rented a studio and took every spare time to visit academies such as Colarossi and Grande Chaumière and André Lhote. 

Dick Beer travels to Pont Aven in Brittany over the summer of 1913. In September, he went directly to Stockholm for his first solo exhibition with the French title Exposition des tableaux de Bretagne et autour de Paris; The exhibition was a big success with many visitors. 

1914-1917: First World War:

In the spring of 1914, Dick Beer undertook a longer study trip to Italy, Tunisia, Morocco and Spain.

When the French army mobilized, Dick Beer volunteered and was accepted into the French Foreign Legion. He was severely injured at Souain in September 1915, and the war injuries left him with severe deafness and nerve problems, which became increasingly noticeable over the years. During and after the war, he painted in a post-impressionistic style with a light palette, increasingly tuned in blue and green.

1918-1919

Dick Beer and Ruth Öhrling married in February, and in December, their only child, John, was born. During these years, Beer had a studio at Rådmansgatan in Stockholm. During this time, he paints several large Cubist compositions such as "In the Paddock" and "Arab Café". 

He participated in the Februarigruppen exhibition at Liljevalch's in 1919. His palette turned into a darker colour scheme dominated by green, blue, and red. 

Amedeo Modigliani made a portrait of him in Paris in 1919. 

Throughout his short life, Beer spent most of his time in France and exhibited almost annually in Paris.

The Scandinavian motifs were mostly landscapes around Lake Mälaren and from the Stockholm archipelago, cityscapes, many nude studies and some portraits. 

Dick Beer practised many styles during his 30 years as an artist, from post-impressionism, cubism, late cubism, expressionism and naturalism. 

Dick Beer (b. London 1893 - d. Stockholm 1938) 

oil on canvas
73 x 60.5 cm
stamp signed 
painted 1920

Exhibited:
The Royal Academy Stockholm, 1942;
The Swedish-French Art Gallery, Memorial exhibition, 1942;
Gothenburg Art Gallery, Memorial exhibition, 1944;
Nationalmuseum Stockholm 1944;
Borås Art Gallery, 1952;
Åmells Konsthandel  – En internationell kubist, Stockholm & London, 2008;
Hälsinglands museum, A Cubist 1910s, 2011
Millesgården – Dick Beer – Impressionist & Kubist, 2012

Provenance:
Within the family Beer until today

Cubistic vision

In the period following the First World War, the artist’s painting underwent a fundamental transformation. Dick Beer was influenced by various modernistic expressions. In Paris, the first wave of cubism, led by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, was established. It was a controversial artistic style. There was a heated debate about cubism, in which the artist broke up the motif into smaller components, sometimes called facets, in order to rebuild it on the flat surface of the pictorial plane. This manner of painting represented a complete break with preceding pictorial conventions and naturalistic painting.

Cubism was governed by theory, not practice, and critics claimed that the style was too intellectual for the general public and they predicted that it would disappear and that artists would return to a rather more classic expression.

The theories surrounding cubism and its various expressions opened up for a number of reinterpretations in the 1910s. Dick Beer was well aware of the cubist discussions. He embraced the ideas but created a varied, personal and emotive cubism in the years around 1918. His painting was often an explosive discharge with playful characteristics and a futuristic dynamism which accentuated the painting’s inherent speed and movement, as for example his works “Dancer” and “The Toy Box”. He also experimented with geometric compositions of buildings and landscapes, which were reminiscent of Paul Cézanne’s more cubic landscapes. Here, Beer’s colours were often muted, in blue, brown and red hues. He frequently returned to earlier motifs and reworked his canvases into a cubist style, as in “Dancer tying her shoes” and “Seated dancer“.

Contemporary art critics were appalled and Beer had to endure severe criticism. At one point, the artist published a reply in the daily Politiken, 1919, where he described his view on art:

“... because love for and understanding of art, ‘l’art pour l’art’, is not easy to achieve, and neither is it easy to comprehend the different movements’ or schools’ origin, goals, characteristic endeavours, etc. – These international phenomena require not only theoretical and art historical knowledge but (...) the ability to empathise with and feel for art, as its practitioners do”.

 

 

Dick Beer (b. London 1893 - d. Stockholm 1938) 

Portrait of Gabriele Varese (in Italian uniform), 1919

oil on canvas mounted on panel
116 x 90 cm 
stamp signature

Exhibited:
Solo exhibition, Stockholm, Nov-Dec 1917;
The Royal Academy Stockholm 1973;
Åmells Konsthandel  – En internationell kubist, Stockholm & London 2008
Hälsinglands Museum 2011
Millesgården – Dick Beer – Impressionist & Kubist, 2012

Provenance:
Within the family Beer until today

Cubistic vision:
In the period following the First World War, the artist’s painting underwent a fundamental transformation. Dick Beer was influenced by various modernistic expressions. In Paris, the first wave of cubism, led by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, was established. It was a controversial artistic style. There was a heated debate about cubism, in which the artist broke up the motif into smaller components, sometimes called facets, in order to rebuild it on the flat surface of the pictorial plane. This manner of painting represented a complete break with preceding pictorial conventions and naturalistic painting.

Cubism was governed by theory, not practice, and critics claimed that the style was too intellectual for the general public and they predicted that it would disappear and that artists would return to a rather more classic expression.

The theories surrounding cubism and its various expressions opened up for a number of reinterpretations in the 1910s. Dick Beer was well aware of the cubist discussions. He embraced the ideas but created a varied, personal and emotive cubism in the years around 1918. His painting was often an explosive discharge with playful characteristics and a futuristic dynamism which accentuated the painting’s inherent speed and movement, as for example his works “Dancer” and “The Toy Box”. He also experimented with geometric compositions of buildings and landscapes, which were reminiscent of Paul Cézanne’s more cubic landscapes. Here, Beer’s colours were often muted, in blue, brown and red hues. He frequently returned to earlier motifs and reworked his canvases into a cubist style, as in “Dancer tying her shoes” and “Seated dancer“.

Contemporary art critics were appalled and Beer had to endure severe criticism. At one point, the artist published a reply in the daily Politiken, 1919, where he described his view on art:

“... because love for and understanding of art, ‘l’art pour l’art’, is not easy to achieve, and neither is it easy to comprehend the different movements’ or schools’ origin, goals, characteristic endeavours, etc. – These international phenomena require not only theoretical and art historical knowledge but (...) the ability to empathise with and feel for art, as its practitioners do”.

 

Henry Holmström (Swedish)

Dopparedagen, 1931

This is the original front cover for the Christmas Magazine - Dopparedagen 1931.
Watercolour on paper.

Unknown Artist, Circle of Julia Beck (1853-1935)

Atelier Interior With Flower Bouquet

oil on tree-panel

Compare with, Julia Becks "Blomsterstilleben" sold at Uppsala Auktionskammare dec 2021:

Agnes McIntyre Croxford (exh 1897-1910) British

Friends

oil on canvas
signed A McIntyreCroxford
painted c. 1900
canvas dimensions 16 x 24 inches (41 x 61 cm)
frame 20.86 x 29 inches (53 x 74 cm)

Provenance:
Sotheby's London, lot 1547, 1998;
Christie's London lot 193, Auction 8406;
Stockholms Auktionsverk, lot 1373;
Private Collection Stockholm

Justus Lundegård (1860-1924)

Sailboats in the Swedish Archipelago

Justus Lundegård grew up in the Swedish village Hörby. He started his art studies at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts 1880–84 and later in Munich and Paris where he switched to an Impressionist style.  In this painting, we can see his later talent for painting white light and a crisp poetry in the mood with spontaneous brush strokes. 

oil on canvas
signed
canvas dimensions 18.11 x 25.59 inches (46 x 65 cm)
frame 23.62 x 31.49 inches (60 x 80 cm)

Provenance:
A Swedish Private Collection

Eugen Kask (1918-1998) Swedish/ Estonian

Ant Battle

oil on panel
signed EKask 78
from 1978
panel size 8.07 x 12.32 inches (20,5 x 31.3 cm)
frame 12.59 x 16.92 inches (32 x 43 cm)

Provenance:
A Swedish Private Collection

Essay:
The painting in question captures the dynamic energy of a moment seemingly frozen in time—an oil sketch by Eugen Kask featuring two ants engaged in an intense wrestling match. Kask’s approach to this piece is fluid and spontaneous, with broad, swift strokes that lend an air of immediacy to the scene. Much of the canvas remains untouched, its raw state highlighting the areas where Kask chose to concentrate his efforts, thus drawing the viewer's gaze directly to the central action of the ants. This decision to leave the background undefined gives the work a sense of incompleteness, a characteristic that is often celebrated in studies and sketches for its authenticity and connection to the artist's initial spark of inspiration.

Eugen Kask, born on January 18, 1918, in Kiev and passed away on May 11, 1998, in Vimmerby, was an Estonian-Swedish painter of diverse talents. A descendant of an architectural lineage, with his father Kristjan Kask and his own background in architecture and fine arts, Kask brought a structural eye to his compositions. His life, marked by the upheaval of wartime displacement, led him to Sweden where his contributions to art continued to flourish through exhibitions and group showcases. His work spans a variety of subjects from pastoral landscapes to intimate animal studies, each rendered in his chosen mediums of charcoal, oil, or pastel. Beyond the canvas, Kask's creative impulse extended to the intricate craft of goldsmithing, a testament to his versatile artistry.

This particular oil sketch not only represents Kask's skill but also embodies the ethos of his artistry—the balance between the refined and the raw, the complete and the incomplete, the permanent and the transient. It is a piece that stands as a testament to his ability to capture the essence of life, no matter how small or fleeting the subject may be.

JULES SCHYL (Sweden, 1893-1977)

BALLET DANCER

A Ballet Dancer painting is a rare find for an artist mostly known for his oeuvre with Cubism and Expressionist paintings.  The current painting has many similarities with Degas sketches in pastel. He probably studied Degas drawings at a museum in 1949 and then made his own interpretation.  

 

pastel, crayon on paper signed Schyl -49  
picture size 16.53 x 13.77 inches (42 x 35 cm)
with frame 23.62 x 20.47 inches (60 x 52 cm)  

Provenance: A Swedish Private Collection