DOI issue:
No. 331 (October 1920)
DOI article:Allhusen, E. L.: Anders Zorn: Some personal recollections
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21401#0110
ANDERS ZORN: SOME PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
a couple of years' study, he returned to
Mora penniless. " If you had done as I
wished and gone to learn to be a tailor,
you would be getting four kronor a week
now ! " By 1882, however, he had saved
enough money to come to England, where
he stayed with a friend at Richmond,
Surrey. But his money was soon
exhausted, and on his friend's advice he
went to one of the principal dealers in
the Haymarket to try and sell an oil
painting—a portrait of himself. He asked
£60 for this, and the dealer offered £3.
Zorn angrily left the shop and vowed
never to have anything to do with " art
dealers" again. Penniless, he boldly
took a studio in Brook Street at a rental of
£5 a week; got some elegant cards
printed, and soon received a commission
to paint various members of the Swedish
Legation. In a few months all anxiety
for the future was gone. a a a
It was in midsummer 1916 that I made
Zorn's acquaintance, when staying at
Fuloberg hut as the guest of Dr. Helling,
who attended him in his last illness.
Fuloberg is a " saeter "—one of those
hill-tops to which the cattle are driven to
make the most of the short summer, and
eat the grass which is not found lower
down. The hut, a solid wooden building,
originally belonged to Zorn but was
given by him to Dr. Helling; it was
built in the early seventeenth century, a
Zorn's own house is in the valley, near
Mora Church, and has a verandah with a
beautiful view overlooking the river. Upon
entering the drawing-room I saw Zorn, a
huge and rather corpulent man, sitting in
an arm-chair with the tiniest little Yorkshire
terrier sitting upon his shoulder. He shook
hands and introduced me at once to
" Liten " (little fellow) the dog. " He is
an Englishman too, and he comes from
Yorkshire and [ weighs three and a half
pounds, which is less than his master
weighs ! " He spoke English perfectly,
but with a strong foreign accent; his face
was much lined, and had a tired, kind
look. He told me about his visits to
America and England ; it was in America,
and not Ireland, that he made the etching
of An Irish Girl—a rarity to-day. 0
Liljefors, the animal painter, then came
in, but unfortunately he spoke no English.
Mrs. Zorn then asked me to come to see
the studio, and there I found wonderful
old Dalecarlian tapestries, and solander
cases full of Zorn's etchings. " Some
English people are very queer," said
Zorn. " A man came to see me once and
spoke about my etchings, but I could see
that he didn't know what an etching was."
I brought him here (in a little side room
full of porcelain trays and dishes) and
told him that this was where I bit my
plates. He looked very astonished, but
after thinking a little asked me, " But
don't you find that it injures your teeth i "
He showed me his private collection
of pictures, and some of the old Dalecarlian
woven work. Frescoes, done by the
peasantry some hundred years ago, once
covered the walls of Mora Church, but
have been many times whitewashed_over.
When the old woodwork and old pews
were threatened with destruction by the
church authorities, Zorn offered to have
the walls cleaned, the frescoes brought to
light and the old woodwork restored at
his own expense, but this was refused.
The walls were painted and new pine-
wood pews brought in. It is strange,"
he said, " to think that there is perhaps
no town in Europe where my authority
in any art matter would not have some
weight. Only in little Mora it is not so."
After tea we went into the gardens
and saw his statue The Morning Bath, a
beautiful nude girl in bronze, pressing
a sponge against her breast. We went
across to the small house which Zorn had
built for his mother, and met the old
lady, perfectly charming in her Dalecarlian
peasant dress with white headcloth. She
used to spend much of her time on sunny
days sitting outside the door, smoking an
old iron pipe, and she worshipped her son.
Midsummer's day throughout Sweden
is a public holiday. Upon all the hill-tops
and in all the villages, maypoles are erected
and the people spend the whole of the
daylight night in dancing. At Mora, no
dancing would begin, nor would the
maypole be erected, until Zorn appeared.
He was certainly the " uncrowned king "
of Dalarne ; and his charities and good
deeds throughout the district were un-
95
a couple of years' study, he returned to
Mora penniless. " If you had done as I
wished and gone to learn to be a tailor,
you would be getting four kronor a week
now ! " By 1882, however, he had saved
enough money to come to England, where
he stayed with a friend at Richmond,
Surrey. But his money was soon
exhausted, and on his friend's advice he
went to one of the principal dealers in
the Haymarket to try and sell an oil
painting—a portrait of himself. He asked
£60 for this, and the dealer offered £3.
Zorn angrily left the shop and vowed
never to have anything to do with " art
dealers" again. Penniless, he boldly
took a studio in Brook Street at a rental of
£5 a week; got some elegant cards
printed, and soon received a commission
to paint various members of the Swedish
Legation. In a few months all anxiety
for the future was gone. a a a
It was in midsummer 1916 that I made
Zorn's acquaintance, when staying at
Fuloberg hut as the guest of Dr. Helling,
who attended him in his last illness.
Fuloberg is a " saeter "—one of those
hill-tops to which the cattle are driven to
make the most of the short summer, and
eat the grass which is not found lower
down. The hut, a solid wooden building,
originally belonged to Zorn but was
given by him to Dr. Helling; it was
built in the early seventeenth century, a
Zorn's own house is in the valley, near
Mora Church, and has a verandah with a
beautiful view overlooking the river. Upon
entering the drawing-room I saw Zorn, a
huge and rather corpulent man, sitting in
an arm-chair with the tiniest little Yorkshire
terrier sitting upon his shoulder. He shook
hands and introduced me at once to
" Liten " (little fellow) the dog. " He is
an Englishman too, and he comes from
Yorkshire and [ weighs three and a half
pounds, which is less than his master
weighs ! " He spoke English perfectly,
but with a strong foreign accent; his face
was much lined, and had a tired, kind
look. He told me about his visits to
America and England ; it was in America,
and not Ireland, that he made the etching
of An Irish Girl—a rarity to-day. 0
Liljefors, the animal painter, then came
in, but unfortunately he spoke no English.
Mrs. Zorn then asked me to come to see
the studio, and there I found wonderful
old Dalecarlian tapestries, and solander
cases full of Zorn's etchings. " Some
English people are very queer," said
Zorn. " A man came to see me once and
spoke about my etchings, but I could see
that he didn't know what an etching was."
I brought him here (in a little side room
full of porcelain trays and dishes) and
told him that this was where I bit my
plates. He looked very astonished, but
after thinking a little asked me, " But
don't you find that it injures your teeth i "
He showed me his private collection
of pictures, and some of the old Dalecarlian
woven work. Frescoes, done by the
peasantry some hundred years ago, once
covered the walls of Mora Church, but
have been many times whitewashed_over.
When the old woodwork and old pews
were threatened with destruction by the
church authorities, Zorn offered to have
the walls cleaned, the frescoes brought to
light and the old woodwork restored at
his own expense, but this was refused.
The walls were painted and new pine-
wood pews brought in. It is strange,"
he said, " to think that there is perhaps
no town in Europe where my authority
in any art matter would not have some
weight. Only in little Mora it is not so."
After tea we went into the gardens
and saw his statue The Morning Bath, a
beautiful nude girl in bronze, pressing
a sponge against her breast. We went
across to the small house which Zorn had
built for his mother, and met the old
lady, perfectly charming in her Dalecarlian
peasant dress with white headcloth. She
used to spend much of her time on sunny
days sitting outside the door, smoking an
old iron pipe, and she worshipped her son.
Midsummer's day throughout Sweden
is a public holiday. Upon all the hill-tops
and in all the villages, maypoles are erected
and the people spend the whole of the
daylight night in dancing. At Mora, no
dancing would begin, nor would the
maypole be erected, until Zorn appeared.
He was certainly the " uncrowned king "
of Dalarne ; and his charities and good
deeds throughout the district were un-
95