Rolf Wertheimer – The Artist’s Studio

ROLF WERTHEIMER (1930–2025)
Rolf Wertheimer has been described as one of the great visual chroniclers of Stockholm in Swedish photography.
Yet he himself humbly regarded photography as “a sideline” to his painting:
“I can’t help trying different things. I’m a versatile artist. I’ve even built violins.”
Rolf Wertheimer was a painter, sculptor, draughtsman, photographer, and filmmaker — and indeed a violin maker, having built twelve instruments of his own, which he also played.
He studied under Pierre Olofsson and Lennart Rodhe at Académie Libre in Stockholm before continuing under Ragnar Sandberg at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (1951–1957). Wertheimer made his solo debut as a painter in 1961 at Galerie Æsthetica. His work was mostly abstract but also included figure studies, studio interiors, and landscapes. As a photographer, he exhibited from 1984 (Galleri Gauss) to 2016 (Åmells Konsthandel).
“Rolf Wertheimer occupies a unique position with his rich visual archive — an unparalleled portrait of the Swedish capital,” wrote Åmells in connection with that 2016 exhibition. Inspired by street life during a study trip to Italy, Wertheimer experienced something of a revelation when he discovered Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Images à la Sauvette (The Decisive Moment). He bought a Leotax camera — a Japanese Leica copy — slipped it into his pocket, and set out into the crowds from his studio on Regeringsgatan, near the NK department store, in the building where the blue-listed Arkaden parking structure, designed by Hans Asplund, stands today.
Wertheimer worked without ever being seen. Discretion was everything. To capture spontaneous and natural moments, he never revealed himself as the photographer. His keen-eyed, surreptitious snapshots documented the youth culture along Kungsgatan, the rise of modern Hötorget City, the bustling life in Kungsträdgården, and avant-garde happenings around Moderna Museet — a forward-leaning city in an era filled with optimism.
A truly multitalented artist, Wertheimer’s sharp eye for his time is preserved in books, exhibitions, and collections at Moderna Museet and the Stockholm City Museum. His long-standing home and studio on Katarina Östra Kyrkogårdsgränd also reflected his artistic sensibility. He lived and worked there from 1970 until his passing in 2025.
It is from this deeply personal provenance that Crafoord Auctions Stockholm now proudly presents a remarkable selection of his works — from oil paintings, plaster sculptures, and a collection of photographs to furniture, a balsa wood architectural model submitted to the competition for a new modern art museum in Stockholm, and other studio objects — including, not least, Rolf Wertheimer’s own Leotax camera, engraved with his signature.
This is, needless to say, a very special occasion.