International studio (20.1903)

Allan Osterlind was at first chiefly known to the
public as a painter, and white dealing now with
some of his etchings, I do not for a moment
forget the water-colourist—so rich and ripe in his
—to whom we owe many delightful things,
combining the somewhat melancholy charm we find
in almost all Scandinavian art with a %?7W, an
easy grace and a lightness of touch which Osterlind
has doubtless derived in some measure from his
land of adoption. Born at Stockholm, trained in
sculpture in Paris under Cavelier, but always
drawing by instinct, the artist has had a far from
sedentary life, and in travelling hither and thither
as his artist fancy prompted him, has ignored those
methods which so many artists use in order to
succeed. Osterlind has been content to produce
a great deal of work, with the fertility of one who
is incessantly demanding of Nature that she shall
give him noytl emotions and varied sensations.
Thus it is that he ranges from the vaporous horizons
of Sweden to the bold, rich-toned scenes of Spain;
that after his pensive-featured Daleca'liennes he

paints the wild dance of the Spanish gitanas or the
fantastic tarantella of the Neapolitan girls. After
several sojournings on the coast of Brittany we find
him among the calm villages of La Creuse, at
Gargilesse, which at last retains the wandering artist.
Osterlind lives in the house that once was Georges
Sand's, and there he has gained the friendship of
that other master colourist, Leon Detroy.
Osterlind's works are scattered about Europe
in private collections and in art galleries. His
early pictures belong almost all to Sweden; his
Aw/azz/ is in the Gottenburg Gallery, and
his (Salon of i88y) in the Gallery at
Helsingfors. It was in i88y that the French
government purchased another touching work from
his brush—his AfaAaTz Afa7*A/a27*a. Also to be
remembered among his principal works are Za Ah
Z? /aw (1888, Tours Gallery); Aw /a Zawh'^
(1890, Bergen Gallery); his water-colour Zazwz/-
ZgMM (in the Ministry of Fine Arts); his Ah/
/a Aazh^ yifaz/, another rich water-colour like his
ah Zarh? ZW/zha/*; the C^aTvy^w Z? Za^


COLOURED ETCIHNG
2y6


BY A. OSTERLIND