582. 3868113. CARL LARSSON. “Lisbeth at the Birch”.
Description
Oil on canvas, 70 x 100 cm. Signed CL within circle and dated 1910.
PROVENANCE
Private collection, United States
Sotheby's, “The Scandinavian Sale”, London, 27 June 2007.
Private collection, Sweden
LITERATURE
Ulwa Neegaard, Carl Larsson: signed with brush and pencil, Stockholm, 1999, vol. II, p. 130, no. in 1387.
Sotheby's, “The Scandinavian sale”, London, 27 June 2007. Illustrated in catalogue p. 91.
In Sundbornsån, just south of Villa Hyttnäs lies Bullerholmen. The large Larsson family rowed here during the bright months of the year to hang out in the open air. Here they bathed, fished crayfish and had picnics in the pastures. The monumental work “Breakfast in the Green” (1910-13) depicts such a late summer day when tables and chairs have been uprooted for an idyllic family meal out in the green between the sheer birch trunks. The second oldest daughter, Lisbeth, stands with dreamy gaze leaning against a white birch trunk some distance away from the murmuring crowd. Soon she is an adult, and her father fears that his girl will soon leave the safe family life in Sundborn. The current work “Lisbeth by the birch” has been carefully dedicated to her person and expression by Carl Larsson. It is an extremely beautiful and finely tuned portrait of one of our greatest portrait artists, who here in his confident painterly technique is strikingly modern.
From Karin Larsson's father, Adolf Bergöö, the young Larsson spouses received in 1888 the cottage Lilla Hyttnäs in the village of Sundborn in Dalarna. In this scenic setting, the family would grow, and by the beauty sense of the two artists, the home would be turned into a work of art in its own right. Karin's great ability to decorate with strong color and self-composed textiles, as well as the use of light and function, created a modern aesthetic. In keeping with the contemporary desire for a life close to nature, the family lived and socialized as much outside as inside. There were many reasons to celebrate in Sundborn, and around meals, people gathered under the foliage, and fresh flowers and leaves were still allowed to decorate the home. From the beginning of the 1890s, Carl Larsson found his motives in this beautiful home environment; where children and wife were accustomed to being models, in play and in silence. These “Sundbornsakvarelles” were disseminated through the publications “Ett hem” in 1899, “Spadarvet”, 1906, and “Åt solsiden”, 1910, making the family idyll style-forming in the creation of the 20th century's close to nature style ideals. Carl Larsson decided in the early summer of 1910 to paint a monumental open-air painting in oil on the same theme, the family idyll in Sundborn. The place would be Björkhagen on their dear Bullerholmen and the time, a bright summer morning. The children who had begun to grow up and were away were asked to come home, and in August the picnic could be prepared. That the work progressed well into autumn can be seen from a few lines that Karin wrote to her mother on August 30, 1910: “Little Mother! We have had such beautiful autumn days and I have especially enjoyed them while Carl wanted to have a sales lady out on Bullerholmen, where he is dealing with a big mess.” Neergard, p.462. After hard work and numerous studies, the final version, “Breakfast in the Green”, hangs today at Norrköping Art Museum.
The current work “Lisbeth by the birch trunk” is, despite the subject's place in “Breakfast in the Green”, an independent work in which Lisbeth's face so vividly shaped dominates the canvas. In her expression there are both features of girl and woman; the profile has been tightened but the gaze still carries the openness of a child. With her face facing away and with a slight smile on her face, Lisbeth is immersed in an inner world of thought. In a white dress draped below the neckline, she stands leaning against an equally white and smooth birch trunk. It is one of the birches that shadowed her childhood play and now supports her marked head. The graceful trees, to which Carl Larsson was fond of drawing in his painting, symbolised the pure nature of Norrland at the time and became more and more prevalent in Nordic painting after the turn of the 20th century. On the other side of the river rests the safe home in Sundborn with the Stora Hyttnäs boathouse in the foreground. The buildings are luminous by their red warm color which is reflected in the flaming movements of the water. In contrast to the light in “Breakfast in the Green”, the driven tones suggest that it is a twilight light resting over the subject, rather than a morning light revealing yellow glow. In this golden hour, the colors of nature appear in their most beautiful splendor, the birch bark shimmers with a bluish shimmer and the view behind the young woman's profile is evocative. It is executed in a sort of pointilist manner with traces of the brush's application of small fields of colour, an ism which was consolidated by Georges Seurat and his circle, and which had a great influence on Post-Impressionist painting.
The birch trunks, if one wishes, distribute the picture space in the field, which reinforces the importance of the individual parts and creates a clarity that can be found in both Nordic and Japanese art, which Carl Larsson took a great impression of. Lisbeth's staggered placement, towards the higher edge, provides an interesting modern perspective that can be inferred to the more unexpected image cuts of photographic art. But the essence of the work, Lisbeth's face and the sheer foliage, are rendered in a naturalistic manner, perfectly rendered in their nuanced, cohesive denominations. The leaves seem to sway in their sensitivity, and the billowing veins of the birch sap meet Lisbeth's round swells of hair in a sublime organic language. Here there is a beautiful spiritual communion between man and nature.
Daughter Lisbeth who was 19 years old at the time of her father's project, patiently modeled this late summer and at the same time enjoyed valuable time with her father. In the auction's beautiful portrait of a woman in transition from child to adult, the tender gaze of a father is visible. Carl Larsson keeps up with the artistic development of his time and has created a sublime personal portrait of his daughter. He has in the work conveyed a sense of change and fatherly tenderness by means of his driven language of colour and form. Lisbeth's look at her inner world, in harmony with the evocative shifts and shades of nature, makes the portrait diverse and prominent in Carl Larsson's production and contemporary times.
Condition
For further information and condition report, please contact, cecillia.berggren@auktionsverket.se.
582. 3868113. CARL LARSSON. “Lisbeth at the Birch”.
Description
Oil on canvas, 70 x 100 cm. Signed CL within circle and dated 1910.
PROVENANCE
Private collection, United States
Sotheby's, “The Scandinavian Sale”, London, 27 June 2007.
Private collection, Sweden
LITERATURE
Ulwa Neegaard, Carl Larsson: signed with brush and pencil, Stockholm, 1999, vol. II, p. 130, no. in 1387.
Sotheby's, “The Scandinavian sale”, London, 27 June 2007. Illustrated in catalogue p. 91.
In Sundbornsån, just south of Villa Hyttnäs lies Bullerholmen. The large Larsson family rowed here during the bright months of the year to hang out in the open air. Here they bathed, fished crayfish and had picnics in the pastures. The monumental work “Breakfast in the Green” (1910-13) depicts such a late summer day when tables and chairs have been uprooted for an idyllic family meal out in the green between the sheer birch trunks. The second oldest daughter, Lisbeth, stands with dreamy gaze leaning against a white birch trunk some distance away from the murmuring crowd. Soon she is an adult, and her father fears that his girl will soon leave the safe family life in Sundborn. The current work “Lisbeth by the birch” has been carefully dedicated to her person and expression by Carl Larsson. It is an extremely beautiful and finely tuned portrait of one of our greatest portrait artists, who here in his confident painterly technique is strikingly modern.
From Karin Larsson's father, Adolf Bergöö, the young Larsson spouses received in 1888 the cottage Lilla Hyttnäs in the village of Sundborn in Dalarna. In this scenic setting, the family would grow, and by the beauty sense of the two artists, the home would be turned into a work of art in its own right. Karin's great ability to decorate with strong color and self-composed textiles, as well as the use of light and function, created a modern aesthetic. In keeping with the contemporary desire for a life close to nature, the family lived and socialized as much outside as inside. There were many reasons to celebrate in Sundborn, and around meals, people gathered under the foliage, and fresh flowers and leaves were still allowed to decorate the home. From the beginning of the 1890s, Carl Larsson found his motives in this beautiful home environment; where children and wife were accustomed to being models, in play and in silence. These “Sundbornsakvarelles” were disseminated through the publications “Ett hem” in 1899, “Spadarvet”, 1906, and “Åt solsiden”, 1910, making the family idyll style-forming in the creation of the 20th century's close to nature style ideals. Carl Larsson decided in the early summer of 1910 to paint a monumental open-air painting in oil on the same theme, the family idyll in Sundborn. The place would be Björkhagen on their dear Bullerholmen and the time, a bright summer morning. The children who had begun to grow up and were away were asked to come home, and in August the picnic could be prepared. That the work progressed well into autumn can be seen from a few lines that Karin wrote to her mother on August 30, 1910: “Little Mother! We have had such beautiful autumn days and I have especially enjoyed them while Carl wanted to have a sales lady out on Bullerholmen, where he is dealing with a big mess.” Neergard, p.462. After hard work and numerous studies, the final version, “Breakfast in the Green”, hangs today at Norrköping Art Museum.
The current work “Lisbeth by the birch trunk” is, despite the subject's place in “Breakfast in the Green”, an independent work in which Lisbeth's face so vividly shaped dominates the canvas. In her expression there are both features of girl and woman; the profile has been tightened but the gaze still carries the openness of a child. With her face facing away and with a slight smile on her face, Lisbeth is immersed in an inner world of thought. In a white dress draped below the neckline, she stands leaning against an equally white and smooth birch trunk. It is one of the birches that shadowed her childhood play and now supports her marked head. The graceful trees, to which Carl Larsson was fond of drawing in his painting, symbolised the pure nature of Norrland at the time and became more and more prevalent in Nordic painting after the turn of the 20th century. On the other side of the river rests the safe home in Sundborn with the Stora Hyttnäs boathouse in the foreground. The buildings are luminous by their red warm color which is reflected in the flaming movements of the water. In contrast to the light in “Breakfast in the Green”, the driven tones suggest that it is a twilight light resting over the subject, rather than a morning light revealing yellow glow. In this golden hour, the colors of nature appear in their most beautiful splendor, the birch bark shimmers with a bluish shimmer and the view behind the young woman's profile is evocative. It is executed in a sort of pointilist manner with traces of the brush's application of small fields of colour, an ism which was consolidated by Georges Seurat and his circle, and which had a great influence on Post-Impressionist painting.
The birch trunks, if one wishes, distribute the picture space in the field, which reinforces the importance of the individual parts and creates a clarity that can be found in both Nordic and Japanese art, which Carl Larsson took a great impression of. Lisbeth's staggered placement, towards the higher edge, provides an interesting modern perspective that can be inferred to the more unexpected image cuts of photographic art. But the essence of the work, Lisbeth's face and the sheer foliage, are rendered in a naturalistic manner, perfectly rendered in their nuanced, cohesive denominations. The leaves seem to sway in their sensitivity, and the billowing veins of the birch sap meet Lisbeth's round swells of hair in a sublime organic language. Here there is a beautiful spiritual communion between man and nature.
Daughter Lisbeth who was 19 years old at the time of her father's project, patiently modeled this late summer and at the same time enjoyed valuable time with her father. In the auction's beautiful portrait of a woman in transition from child to adult, the tender gaze of a father is visible. Carl Larsson keeps up with the artistic development of his time and has created a sublime personal portrait of his daughter. He has in the work conveyed a sense of change and fatherly tenderness by means of his driven language of colour and form. Lisbeth's look at her inner world, in harmony with the evocative shifts and shades of nature, makes the portrait diverse and prominent in Carl Larsson's production and contemporary times.
Condition
For further information and condition report, please contact, cecillia.berggren@auktionsverket.se.
Stockholms Auktionsverk presents Fine Art and Antiques!
We invite you to explore an extensive selection of exquisite art and first-rate antiques. Leading the collection is Carl Larsson’s famous painting Lisbeth by the Birch, a central work for the artist and one of the most significant Swedish artworks from the early 1900s. Of particular importance is also Anders Bure’s monumental map of the Nordic countries, where 17th-century cartography ascends to fine art. Alongside these highlights is a newly discovered sculpture by Johan Tobias Sergel, rounding out three of the most outstanding pieces in this rich catalog.
A few other notable works include one of Anders Zorn’s celebrated dalkulla figures from his studio, as well as a drawing of Member of Parliament Erik Norrman. Pause to admire Gustaf Fjaestad’s captivating northern lights or Helmer Osslund’s grand autumn landscape. A more modest yet charming gem is Hugo Salmson’s The Red Lobster, in which a freshly cooked delicacy amazes the family’s youngest member. A touch of holiday cheer is found in Karl Emanuel Jansson’s Old Man Chopping Pine Boughs, a work of exceptional quality. And don’t miss the sharp gaze of a tax collector in the 16th-century Flemish painting—a look that has endured nearly five centuries!
The decorative arts section includes high-quality Stockholm pieces by masters such as Gottlieb Iwersson. Standout items are a pair of late Gustavian gilt and dark-patinated bronze sconces, along with a Rococo mirror by Johan Åkerblad. The showpiece is Olof Westberg’s Haga-model chandelier, comparable to the one in King Gustav III’s bedroom pavilion. The catalogue also features Elfdahls Porphyry vases in Orrlock’s porphyry and a baroque chest, each a rarity.
Among the international highlights, be sure to see a painted Flemish tapestry from the early 18th century, an intricate 19th-century wooden chandelier for 24 candles, a gilded Tibetan bronze figure, and a Tanka from the early 1800s.
Welcome!
SALE ORDER: Tuesday December 10 at 11.00 CET
Silver 1-78
Cabinet of Curiosities 79-141
Antique Furniture 142-268
Oriental Carpets and Textiles 269-320
Jewellery
Wednesday December 11 at 11.00 CET
Asian Art and Works of Art 452-540
Wednesday December 11 at 14.00 CET
Art and Drawings 19th century 541-645
Old Swedish Art and Drawings 646-668
Old Masters 669-709
Prints 710-720
