DOI issue:
No. 86 (April, 1904)
DOI article:Tallberg, Axel: Modern painting in Sweden
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26964#0188
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John Kindborg is a good painter of forest sub-
jects, and Oscar Hultgren is rapidly rising as a
marine painter.
To the minor societies belong Otto Hesselbom,
a landscapist possessing originality in the con-
ception of his subjects as well as in their rendering.
This artist is, curiously enough, far better known
abroad than he is at home, although he has never
been outside his native country. Members also of
these societies are Fritz Karfve and Bengt Hed-
berg, landscape painters, and Anders Trulson, a
figure painter of great ability.
Among the " Savages " who do not belong to
any society or institution at all we find two names
well known and greatly honoured all over the world,
Anders Zorn and Carl Larsson. Both have until
quite recently been members
of the " League," but they have
now, for reasons unknown, left
that body. " Savages " are
also the eminently gifted
Gunnar Hallstrom and the
interesting landscape painter
Erik Hedberg.
I have purposely left the
" League " to the last: firstly,
because their best names are
already well known abroad ;
and, secondly, because they
themselves are very modest;
being, indeed, in art what the
" Puritans" of old were in
religion. Insisting always upon
rigid adherence to natural
simplicity, this excellent
quality is, I am tempted to
think, the sole secret of their
rapid success.
The most prominent painter
of the " League " at present is
Richard Bergh, who, since he
left the schools of the Academy,
more than twenty years ago,
has passed through many
strange and remarkable stages
of artistic evolution. He is
now, however, the most sober
of artists, and at the same time
a profound thinker. Bergh is
a philosopher by nature and
an artist by impulse. He may
be regarded as the principal
maker of Swedish modern art,
and its foremost representative.
He has had staunch and inflexible supporters
in Karl Nordstrom, a landscape painter of
rare quality, Robert Thegerstrom, the eccentric
but always interesting Eugen Janson, Georg Pauli,
the genial sculptor, Kristian Eriksson, and in
Bruno Liljefors, the famous animal painter. These,
together with Larsson and Zorn, are the men who
have given Sweden her present art, and established
the prestige won by that art at home and abroad.
The younger members of the " League" are
mostly disciples of the leaders mentioned, but
a few of them have already gained a well-deserved
fame for themselves. Among these, the best
known are B. Ahlgrensson, Carl Wilhelmson, G.
Fjcestad, Esther Almquist, B. Lind, von Hennings,
and Axel Sjoberg.
r t o
John Kindborg is a good painter of forest sub-
jects, and Oscar Hultgren is rapidly rising as a
marine painter.
To the minor societies belong Otto Hesselbom,
a landscapist possessing originality in the con-
ception of his subjects as well as in their rendering.
This artist is, curiously enough, far better known
abroad than he is at home, although he has never
been outside his native country. Members also of
these societies are Fritz Karfve and Bengt Hed-
berg, landscape painters, and Anders Trulson, a
figure painter of great ability.
Among the " Savages " who do not belong to
any society or institution at all we find two names
well known and greatly honoured all over the world,
Anders Zorn and Carl Larsson. Both have until
quite recently been members
of the " League," but they have
now, for reasons unknown, left
that body. " Savages " are
also the eminently gifted
Gunnar Hallstrom and the
interesting landscape painter
Erik Hedberg.
I have purposely left the
" League " to the last: firstly,
because their best names are
already well known abroad ;
and, secondly, because they
themselves are very modest;
being, indeed, in art what the
" Puritans" of old were in
religion. Insisting always upon
rigid adherence to natural
simplicity, this excellent
quality is, I am tempted to
think, the sole secret of their
rapid success.
The most prominent painter
of the " League " at present is
Richard Bergh, who, since he
left the schools of the Academy,
more than twenty years ago,
has passed through many
strange and remarkable stages
of artistic evolution. He is
now, however, the most sober
of artists, and at the same time
a profound thinker. Bergh is
a philosopher by nature and
an artist by impulse. He may
be regarded as the principal
maker of Swedish modern art,
and its foremost representative.
He has had staunch and inflexible supporters
in Karl Nordstrom, a landscape painter of
rare quality, Robert Thegerstrom, the eccentric
but always interesting Eugen Janson, Georg Pauli,
the genial sculptor, Kristian Eriksson, and in
Bruno Liljefors, the famous animal painter. These,
together with Larsson and Zorn, are the men who
have given Sweden her present art, and established
the prestige won by that art at home and abroad.
The younger members of the " League" are
mostly disciples of the leaders mentioned, but
a few of them have already gained a well-deserved
fame for themselves. Among these, the best
known are B. Ahlgrensson, Carl Wilhelmson, G.
Fjcestad, Esther Almquist, B. Lind, von Hennings,
and Axel Sjoberg.
r t o