242. AXEL TÖRNEMAN (1880-1925). The archer, oil on Board, 140 x 118 cm.

AXEL TÖRNEMAN 1880-1925 The archer (Algot and Zacco) Signed and dated TÖRNEMAN 1920. Oil on cardboard Board, 140 x 118 cm.
Bear inscription To Gudrun.

The painting depicts the 11-year-old son Algot Törneman (born 1909) and was given as a gift to his wife, the Norwegian opera singer Gudrun Høyer-Ellefsen.

PROVENANCE Mrs. Gudrun Törneman EXHIBITED Liljevalchs art gallery, 1956, Swedish Art Cavalcade, Jubilee exhibition, then titled Algot and Zacco, 1920.

LITERATURE Axel Törneman 1880-1925, Exhibition catalog Liljevalchs Konsthall 1967, p. 52.

Värmlander Axel Törneman is considered one of the most important and pioneering artists in Sweden during the turn of the last century. He was a link between the Artists' Union and emerging expressionism - a forerunner and an anachronism. Strong and stubborn, he went his own way and never cared to belong to any fixed group of artists. The path to this emancipation in painting went via the German, radical avant-garde to the modernist currents of Paris.

Törneman grew up in the mining community of Persberg in Värmland and after school in Stockholm came to Valand in Gothenburg. At the time, Carl Wilhelmson was a teacher at the school, and even though Törneman studied with Wilhelmson for just four months, he was strongly impressed by the teacher's painting technique, where a kind of stain technique in pure, clear colors effectively builds up the picture plane. This manner is also evident in this particular painting; The archer, even though it was made 20 years later.

After completing his studies, adventure beckoned south and Törneman headed to Munich, which at the time was a melting pot of artistic creativity and the center of the German Jugendstil. During his two years in Bavaria, he developed a powerful painting in which he fused German Symbolism and Expressionism. In 1902 he continued, with tireless zeal and avarice to the seething capital of art - Paris. Here he discovered works by, among others Bernard, Cézanne, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec and painted dynamic, rhythmic images. Later, around 1905, his choice of colors was increasingly influenced by the painting of the French post-impressionists, mainly van Gogh and Gauguin. In 1906 he executed the painting Nattcafé, regarded as one of Swedish modernism's most important breakthrough works. Where Törneman learned the line game in Munich, he instead got the denominations in the bargain in Paris. In France he also met the Norwegian singer Gudrun Høyer-Ellefsen, who later became his wife, to whom this painting is also dedicated.

In 1909, the son Algot was born, who became the hub of the family and one of Törneman's recurring favorite models. He liked to depict him in the safe environment of the home, usually with some paraphernalia or toy in his hand; a rose, a teddy bear, or like here a bow. In the painting, Algot is seen cocking his bow, focusing on the target and getting ready for mock combat. Next to him stands the beloved dog Zacco, like a faithful foot soldier following his master and commander onto the battlefield. Algot's feathered headdress complements the chaise longue's brown shades, and the unmixed complementary colors stand in stark contrast to each other.

Törneman's life was cut short prematurely. Only 45 years old, he died, on Boxing Day 1925, from a bleeding stomach ulcer. In addition to his son and wife, Törneman left an extremely rich and unique art treasure. His unrelenting fervor, persistent creative power and wayward painting have forever etched him as one of the strongest painterly voices of the early 20th century.