62. TORSTEN ANDERSSON (1926 - 2009). “Statue (Monument with Red Shell)”.

Oil on canvas, 127 x 127 cm, unframed. Signed Torsten Andersson and dated 89.

PROVENANCE:
Gallery Lars Bohman, Stockholm.
Private collection.

EXHIBITIONS:
Lars Bohman Gallery, Stockholm.
Art Forum Berlin, 1998.

LITERATURE:
Lars Bohman Gallery, “Torsten Andersson Statues”, 1998, catalogue no 12. Illustrated full page, p. 29.
Swedish General Art Society/Monica Nieckels: Torsten Andersson. CASE, 2002.

Torsten Andersson (1926—2009) is one of the most distinctive and respected figures in 20th century Swedish art. Born in Östra Sallerup in Skåne, he trained at the Skånska School of Painting, Otte Skölds School of Painting and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm. Even early on, he marked his own path through painting, where intellectual rigor was combined with poetic sensibility.

In 1960 Andersson was appointed professor at the Stockholm Academy of Fine Arts, but after a grueling conflict he left the post and returned to his childhood home in Benarp. There, in withdrawal, he continued his consistent search for an imagery of his own. His art is characterized by an almost uncompromising willingness to renew the language of painting, often through a sparse, forceful expression in which each form carries a weight and necessity.

Torsten Andersson participated in major international exhibitions such as the São Paulo Biennale and the Venice Biennale, and was awarded several prestigious prizes, including the Rolf Schock Prize (1997) and the Carnegie Art Award (1st prize 2008, 3rd prize 1998). His work often moves in the borderland between painting and sculptural presence, where painting does not merely depict something, but itself becomes an existence, an artistic fact.

Today, Andersson's artistry is considered a milestone in Nordic contemporary art. His works are characterized by integrity, concentration and a uniqueness that makes them as relevant today as when they were created.