DOI Heft:
No. 61 (April, 1898)
DOI Artikel:Laurin, Carl G.: A Swedish painter and etcher: Anders Zorn
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18391#0188
Anders Zorn
wood-carvings and bought a colour-box, and soon
found that he had more aptitude for painting in
water-colours than for sculpture. During his stay
at the Academy he interested himself mostly in
drawing from the nude model. It was not long
before he found that at the Academy he could not
develop his talents freely, and he therefore left it in
1881. His example was followed by those among
his comrades who now represent the freshest and
best in Swedish art. After painting till he had a
sum of money sufficient to cover his travelling
expenses, he went to London, and remained there
from 1882 till 1885. Here he exhibited water-
colours at the Royal Institute, the Royal Society
of Painters in Water-Colours, and Royal Academy,
and also took trips to Spain, Morocco, and Dale-
carlia. His style of painting was at this time de-
tailed, but stamped with freshness. Swarthy gipsy
brats alternate with distinguished "sefioritas."
With his lively interest for reality Zorn soon saw
that the picturesque costume is unessential, and
that a modern English lady is as good a subject
for a painter as any Spanish lady or Dalecar-
lian girl. About this time Zorn began to paint
in oil. His first painting in this medium—A
Fisherman, with scenery from England —was
bought by the French State, and now hangs in the
166
Luxembourg Museum. At the Paris Exhibition,
1887, Zorn exhibited water-colours (portrait groups)
and a couple of portraits in oil, and he was awarded
the first medal and the Legion of Honour. A
portrait of himself was placed, in 1888, in the
Uffizii at Florence, where it has a well-deserved
place of honour. In 1890, at the founding of the
Champ de Mars Salon, Zorn was one of the first
foreign members chosen.
It is in the intense rendering of the moment that
Zorn is a master. In a time so groping and eclectic
as ours, which tries to clothe some of its most per-
sonal thoughts and moods in an archaic vesture,
which searches far and wide after the picturesque
motive, he has, in a purely instinctive manner and
without circumlocution, succeeded in concentrating
upon lifelike pictures of lasting value many impres-
sions which are simply passing glimpses to other
people. Like Guy de Maupassant, he is impassion-
ately in love with the sensual existence, and, like
him, Zorn is capable of imparting to the spectator
that almost startling sensation of the vehement
fulness of life. As Maupassant, in his immortal
Contes, avoids all unnecessary detail in order to
«ive the greater relief and character to the most
important features, so Zorn, with a studied exclu
sion of details, concentrates the main object to one
wood-carvings and bought a colour-box, and soon
found that he had more aptitude for painting in
water-colours than for sculpture. During his stay
at the Academy he interested himself mostly in
drawing from the nude model. It was not long
before he found that at the Academy he could not
develop his talents freely, and he therefore left it in
1881. His example was followed by those among
his comrades who now represent the freshest and
best in Swedish art. After painting till he had a
sum of money sufficient to cover his travelling
expenses, he went to London, and remained there
from 1882 till 1885. Here he exhibited water-
colours at the Royal Institute, the Royal Society
of Painters in Water-Colours, and Royal Academy,
and also took trips to Spain, Morocco, and Dale-
carlia. His style of painting was at this time de-
tailed, but stamped with freshness. Swarthy gipsy
brats alternate with distinguished "sefioritas."
With his lively interest for reality Zorn soon saw
that the picturesque costume is unessential, and
that a modern English lady is as good a subject
for a painter as any Spanish lady or Dalecar-
lian girl. About this time Zorn began to paint
in oil. His first painting in this medium—A
Fisherman, with scenery from England —was
bought by the French State, and now hangs in the
166
Luxembourg Museum. At the Paris Exhibition,
1887, Zorn exhibited water-colours (portrait groups)
and a couple of portraits in oil, and he was awarded
the first medal and the Legion of Honour. A
portrait of himself was placed, in 1888, in the
Uffizii at Florence, where it has a well-deserved
place of honour. In 1890, at the founding of the
Champ de Mars Salon, Zorn was one of the first
foreign members chosen.
It is in the intense rendering of the moment that
Zorn is a master. In a time so groping and eclectic
as ours, which tries to clothe some of its most per-
sonal thoughts and moods in an archaic vesture,
which searches far and wide after the picturesque
motive, he has, in a purely instinctive manner and
without circumlocution, succeeded in concentrating
upon lifelike pictures of lasting value many impres-
sions which are simply passing glimpses to other
people. Like Guy de Maupassant, he is impassion-
ately in love with the sensual existence, and, like
him, Zorn is capable of imparting to the spectator
that almost startling sensation of the vehement
fulness of life. As Maupassant, in his immortal
Contes, avoids all unnecessary detail in order to
«ive the greater relief and character to the most
important features, so Zorn, with a studied exclu
sion of details, concentrates the main object to one