105. 2977875. J.A.G. (JOHAN AXEL GUSTAF) ACKE. "Eastern Salt".
Description
Oil on lined canvas, 98 x 136 cm. Signed "To Sigurd Ornö 1906. A study of Eastern Salt from Acke". Study a verso.
PROVENANCE Sigurd von Kock.
Rikard Lindström.
Villa Akleja, Vaxholm.
EXHIBITIONS Uppsala, Konstnärsförbndet (KF) Verdandi exhibition, 1907.
Stockholm, Art Academy, Commemorative Exhibition 1925.
Stockholm, Gummesons Art Gallery, retrospective, 1934.
Stockholm, Prins Eugen's Waldemarsudde: ME Acke exhibition 1982.
Edinburgh, Swedish Realism and Symbolism, Patrick Bourne Gallery, 1983.
Stockholm, ME Acke International Art and Antique Fair, 1984.
New York, The Swedish Vision, Shepherd Gallery, 1985.
Stockholm, JAG Acke, Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde 1991.
Stockholm, Artipelag, No man is an island, 2014.
LITERATURE Swedish art chronicle for 100 years, Stockholm 1952, illustrated.
Visual arts in the Nordics, Tidens konsthistoria, Stockholm 1950, p.530.
I Acke, A memoir, H. Hammargren, Stockholm 1960, p.197.
Swedish Underwater Archaeology, Lars Lövstrand, Swedish Museums, 1964; 3-4 illustrated No. 9.
National Romanticism and Radicalism - The History of the Artists' Union 1891-1920 Sixten Strömbom, 1965, illustrated picture 120.
I Acke, Lic thesis, Erland Lagerlöf, Stockholm University 1959 p.76.
Konsthandboken, Stockholm 1948 pp. 392-393.
Antik & Auktion, No. 12, 1983, illustrated p. 30.
The Art of Twilight. Unique for the Nordics, Art and Crafts No. 2 1983, illustrated p.6.
From Neurasthenia to Narcissism - Dagens Nyheter 2 - February 1983 p.4.
The renaissance of blue painting - Dagens Nyheter 18 May 1985, illustrated p.21.
The Swedish Vision, New York, 1985, Shepherd Gallery illustrated p.51.
Northern Light, Kirk Varnedoe, 1987, ISBN-7201-154-9, illustrated p.121.
Artipelag, Stockholm, No man is an island, 2014, illustrated catalogue.
I Acke, Prins Eugen's Waldemarsudde exhibition catalog 1/1 plate.
I Acke Visionary and dreamer in the mirror of art, Claes Moser, 2020, ISBN 978-91.510-4963-5, 72- illd.73- "Eastern salt" version I painted outdoors One of Acke's most significant paintings, and one of the flagships of the vitalist movement from 1906, is the painting "Östrasalt", or as it is actually called, "Eistrasalt", the ancient name for the Baltic Sea. The painting constitutes Acke's spiritual testament and is an apotheosis of the archipelago, as well as a symbolic order of attitude to overcivilized humanity's handling of mother earth. The free horizon and the sea were for Acke an elixir of life. The laws of nature, he believed, should be obeyed. Man must reclaim the knowledge that previous generations took possession of. The ability of older generations to predict the weather by observing fleeing cloud formations had been replaced by modern man with technicalities.
The naked men on the rock outcropping outside Ornö stand on solid ground because they themselves interpreted the weather in harmony with nature. We are born naked to this earth and must clothe ourselves both spiritually and physically during our life's journey. At the beginning of the century, Acke hung out with Ellen Key in Rome. They found each other in the windings of the university of thought, whereby a lifelong friendship arose, so much so that they considered themselves foster siblings. Ellen wrote in a letter to Acke in Vaxholm that man must refrain from ravaging our forests without sowing seeds for future generations, and that we perforated the earth's crust in the hunt for ore without bringing the soil masses back to nature for other harvests. Summer meant for Acke to venture into the elements, and that could only be done in an archipelago environment. In summer, Acke saw Vaxholm as a "veritable spinach carrot" when the town was teeming with people. Instead, a summer residence was rented on Ornö in Morotsvik. In "De tre simmarna", as Acke's wife Eja called the painting, Acke is on the far right, the painter Rikard Lindström in the middle and the composer Sigurd von Kock from Ornö on the left. The men all look in the direction of the wind, the movement dictated by how the arms and legs are positioned in a spiraling direction of movement from left to right. "Östrasalt" was bought by Gothenburg's art museum but was not delivered immediately, but it was to be completed regarding the left corner. In the studio, Acke cuts the picture into two parts and presents each part to the models and then paints a replica of the painting indoors which is delivered to Gothenburg's art museum. Many years later, after Acke and Sigurd von Kock's death, Rikard Lindström begs for Sigurd von Kock's part and joins the picture together and completes the left unpainted corner. Lindström also signs his contribution, the left corner. Acke himself has labeled the image in the cloud formations "To Sigurd Ornö 1906 A study to Östrasalt. From Acke to Sigurd Ornö in 1906". The first of the colleagues to see Östrasalt was Eugène Jansson, who then disappeared from the art scene for a long time and stopped painting his nocturnal visions of gaslight-clad views of Riddarfjärden to later return with his new genre, lifting athletes in Adam's suits from mostly the navy bathhouse on Skeppsholmen.
Condition
Raised and supplemented canvas. Retouches, cracks all over the painting. The seam in the canvas is visible in trailing light.
Relined canvas. Retouches and crazing all over. Visible in raking light. The seam visible in the painting in daylight.
Relined duck. Crazing and retouches For full condition report and transport, please contact cecilia.berggren@auktionsverket.se.
105. 2977875. J.A.G. (JOHAN AXEL GUSTAF) ACKE. "Eastern Salt".
Description
Oil on lined canvas, 98 x 136 cm. Signed "To Sigurd Ornö 1906. A study of Eastern Salt from Acke". Study a verso.
PROVENANCE Sigurd von Kock.
Rikard Lindström.
Villa Akleja, Vaxholm.
EXHIBITIONS Uppsala, Konstnärsförbndet (KF) Verdandi exhibition, 1907.
Stockholm, Art Academy, Commemorative Exhibition 1925.
Stockholm, Gummesons Art Gallery, retrospective, 1934.
Stockholm, Prins Eugen's Waldemarsudde: ME Acke exhibition 1982.
Edinburgh, Swedish Realism and Symbolism, Patrick Bourne Gallery, 1983.
Stockholm, ME Acke International Art and Antique Fair, 1984.
New York, The Swedish Vision, Shepherd Gallery, 1985.
Stockholm, JAG Acke, Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde 1991.
Stockholm, Artipelag, No man is an island, 2014.
LITERATURE Swedish art chronicle for 100 years, Stockholm 1952, illustrated.
Visual arts in the Nordics, Tidens konsthistoria, Stockholm 1950, p.530.
I Acke, A memoir, H. Hammargren, Stockholm 1960, p.197.
Swedish Underwater Archaeology, Lars Lövstrand, Swedish Museums, 1964; 3-4 illustrated No. 9.
National Romanticism and Radicalism - The History of the Artists' Union 1891-1920 Sixten Strömbom, 1965, illustrated picture 120.
I Acke, Lic thesis, Erland Lagerlöf, Stockholm University 1959 p.76.
Konsthandboken, Stockholm 1948 pp. 392-393.
Antik & Auktion, No. 12, 1983, illustrated p. 30.
The Art of Twilight. Unique for the Nordics, Art and Crafts No. 2 1983, illustrated p.6.
From Neurasthenia to Narcissism - Dagens Nyheter 2 - February 1983 p.4.
The renaissance of blue painting - Dagens Nyheter 18 May 1985, illustrated p.21.
The Swedish Vision, New York, 1985, Shepherd Gallery illustrated p.51.
Northern Light, Kirk Varnedoe, 1987, ISBN-7201-154-9, illustrated p.121.
Artipelag, Stockholm, No man is an island, 2014, illustrated catalogue.
I Acke, Prins Eugen's Waldemarsudde exhibition catalog 1/1 plate.
I Acke Visionary and dreamer in the mirror of art, Claes Moser, 2020, ISBN 978-91.510-4963-5, 72- illd.73- "Eastern salt" version I painted outdoors One of Acke's most significant paintings, and one of the flagships of the vitalist movement from 1906, is the painting "Östrasalt", or as it is actually called, "Eistrasalt", the ancient name for the Baltic Sea. The painting constitutes Acke's spiritual testament and is an apotheosis of the archipelago, as well as a symbolic order of attitude to overcivilized humanity's handling of mother earth. The free horizon and the sea were for Acke an elixir of life. The laws of nature, he believed, should be obeyed. Man must reclaim the knowledge that previous generations took possession of. The ability of older generations to predict the weather by observing fleeing cloud formations had been replaced by modern man with technicalities.
The naked men on the rock outcropping outside Ornö stand on solid ground because they themselves interpreted the weather in harmony with nature. We are born naked to this earth and must clothe ourselves both spiritually and physically during our life's journey. At the beginning of the century, Acke hung out with Ellen Key in Rome. They found each other in the windings of the university of thought, whereby a lifelong friendship arose, so much so that they considered themselves foster siblings. Ellen wrote in a letter to Acke in Vaxholm that man must refrain from ravaging our forests without sowing seeds for future generations, and that we perforated the earth's crust in the hunt for ore without bringing the soil masses back to nature for other harvests. Summer meant for Acke to venture into the elements, and that could only be done in an archipelago environment. In summer, Acke saw Vaxholm as a "veritable spinach carrot" when the town was teeming with people. Instead, a summer residence was rented on Ornö in Morotsvik. In "De tre simmarna", as Acke's wife Eja called the painting, Acke is on the far right, the painter Rikard Lindström in the middle and the composer Sigurd von Kock from Ornö on the left. The men all look in the direction of the wind, the movement dictated by how the arms and legs are positioned in a spiraling direction of movement from left to right. "Östrasalt" was bought by Gothenburg's art museum but was not delivered immediately, but it was to be completed regarding the left corner. In the studio, Acke cuts the picture into two parts and presents each part to the models and then paints a replica of the painting indoors which is delivered to Gothenburg's art museum. Many years later, after Acke and Sigurd von Kock's death, Rikard Lindström begs for Sigurd von Kock's part and joins the picture together and completes the left unpainted corner. Lindström also signs his contribution, the left corner. Acke himself has labeled the image in the cloud formations "To Sigurd Ornö 1906 A study to Östrasalt. From Acke to Sigurd Ornö in 1906". The first of the colleagues to see Östrasalt was Eugène Jansson, who then disappeared from the art scene for a long time and stopped painting his nocturnal visions of gaslight-clad views of Riddarfjärden to later return with his new genre, lifting athletes in Adam's suits from mostly the navy bathhouse on Skeppsholmen.
Condition
Raised and supplemented canvas. Retouches, cracks all over the painting. The seam in the canvas is visible in trailing light.
Relined canvas. Retouches and crazing all over. Visible in raking light. The seam visible in the painting in daylight.
Relined duck. Crazing and retouches For full condition report and transport, please contact cecilia.berggren@auktionsverket.se.
Claes Moser is today one of the country's most well-known art experts and dealers, but he took his very first step into the industry as a student - when he used his student loan to bid in an unsigned oil painting of a boy dressed as a pirate at Stockholms Auktionsverk. It not only meant the beginning of a new and highly unplanned career path, but a lifelong fascination for the renowned Swedish artist Johan Axel Gustaf Acke.
At that time, J.A.G. Acke was basically forgotten and I was lucky enough to be pretty much alone in being on the hunt for his work. But today he has regained his position and more besides, above all internationally, and that makes me very happy. He was a different kind of artist, innovative for his time and never became an old artist who only painted what was expected of him. I've had fun with him all these years, says Claes Moser, smiling.
On September 25, Claes Moser's unique collection will be sold at Stockholms Auktionsverk at Nybrogatan 32. The viewing takes place September 20-25.
