GERDA AHLM (1869-1956). Motifs from Dalarö.

Oil on canvas laid on cardboard, 29 x 20 cm. Frame dimensions 43 x 36 cm. Signed G Ahlm and Dalarö.

This exquisite painting is painted out in the open — “en plein air” — on a summer day on Dalarö and breathes airy outdoor painting. Here it is also clear that Gerda Ahlm was influenced by Japanese woodcuts in the same way as Julia Beck and Bruno Liljefors in the 1880s. With quick, thin brushstrokes, she has drawn up the reed straws. They break through the surface of the water effectively with their yellow stems which, higher up, transform into intensely green leaves.

In the painting of the auction, Gerda Ahlm really shows her talent as an outdoor painter. This is a piece of Swedish summer - rendered with a subtle sense of colour and light.

Gerda Ahlm is undoubtedly one of the most distinguished female Swedish artists of the last century. After studying at the Art Academy in Stockholm 1889—1891, she went to France, Germany and Italy during 1892. She returned to France in 1894 to go to Italy the following year and for the following five years staying in England, Norway and Belgium.

In Paris she studied at the Académie Colarossi for Deschamps and there got to know many other female painters such as Gerda Roosval-Kallstenius and Lotten Rönquist. Scandinavians gathered in the evenings in the cafe and restaurant Régence. Gerda's circle of acquaintances also included Fanny Låstbom, Ellen Thesleff, Aleksander Federley and Pekka Halonen from Finland. They took part in French cultural life and visited museums and exhibitions.

It is clear that it is in Paris that Gerda Ahlm's artistry takes shape and it is particularly interesting to note the similarities in her paintings with Elisabeth Keyser's and Emma Löwstädt-Chadwick's pictures from France.

Gerda Ahlm starts exhibiting both at home in Sweden and abroad. 1893 The World's Fair was held in Chicago and Gerda Ahlm participated with the painting Autumn Summer.

Ten years later, she emigrates to the United States and settles in Chicago. She soon takes an interest in restoring art and returns to Europe to study conservation for FC Sessig at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.

Back in America, Gerda gained employment as an assistant conservator at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Gerda Ahlm was given a tough challenge in a painting on rough planed wood that was in such poor condition that it was not possible to tell whether it was a portrait or a landscape. After much work, the painting turned out to be a portrait of the Madonna and Child by Albrecht Dürer. The next big challenge for Gerda was a painting by the Italian master Giovanni Bellini. These works rendered Gerda Ahlm an article in the Fine Arts Journal in 1916 in which she gained recognition as one of America's most skilled conservators. She then worked as a conservator at the Art Institute of Chicago, but also for other institutions and private collectors worldwide.

In parallel, Gerda continued to paint and exhibit her own paintings and she came to be inspired by Impressionism. 1905 and the following year she exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago. She was one of the first women to exhibit her work at The Swedish-American Art Exhibitions in Chicago in 1905, 1911, and 1912. Her painting was also shown at exhibitions in Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Copenhagen and Stockholm.

Despite Gerda Ahlm's recognition during her lifetime and participation in numerous international exhibitions, her artistry is today forgotten to the general public.