Anders Zorn
Encyclopedia
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
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Biography
Zorn was born in Yvraden, a hamlet in the village of Utmeland in the parish of Mora, DalarnaDalarna
', English exonym: Dalecarlia, is a historical province or landskap in central Sweden. Another English language form established in literature is the Dales. Places involving the element Dalecarlia exist in the United States....
, and was raised on his grandparents' farm in Yvraden. He studied at the age of twelve in the school at Mora Strand before progressing during the autumn of 1872 to a secondary grammar school in Enköping
Enköping
Enköping is a locality and the seat of Enköping Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 20,204 inhabitants in 2005.- Geography :Enköping is situated near Lake Mälaren, about 78 km west of Stockholm....
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From 1875–1880 Zorn studied at Royal Swedish Academy of Arts
Royal Swedish Academy of Arts
The Royal Swedish Academy of Arts or Kungl. Akademien för de fria konsterna, founded in 1773 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden...
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. He traveled extensively to London, Paris, the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, Spain, Italy and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, becoming an international success as one of the most acclaimed painters of his era. While his early works were often brilliant, luminous watercolors, by 1887 he had switched firmly to oils. Zorn painted portraits, scenes depicting rustic life and customs. Zorn is also famous for his nude paintings and realistic depictions of water.
It was primarily his skill as a portrait painter that gained Zorn international acclaim based principally upon his incisive ability to depict the individual character of his model. His subjects included three American Presidents, one of whom was Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
in 1899. At 29, he was made Chevalier
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
of the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
at the Exposition Universelle 1889 Paris World Fair
Exposition Universelle (1889)
The Exposition Universelle of 1889 was a World's Fair held in Paris, France from 6 May to 31 October 1889.It was held during the year of the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, an event traditionally considered as the symbol for the beginning of the French Revolution...
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Collection
His art made him wealthy and he was thus able to build up a considerable collection of art. The objects were not only bought in his native country but also during the many travels he made abroad. In their joint will, Anders and Emma Zorn donated their entire holdings to the Swedish State.Some of his most important works can be seen at the National Museum of Fine Arts (Swedish:Nationalmuseum) in Stockholm. Among them is Midsummer Dance (1897), a depiction of dancers in the evening light of a rural Midsummer Eve celebration. Other museums holding major works by Zorn include the Musée d'Orsay
Musée d'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, an impressive Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture,...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
. The Zorn Collections
Zorn Collections
The Zorn Collections, or Zornsamlingarna, is a Swedish state museum, located in Mora, dedicated to preserving the works by painter Anders Zorn....
(Swedish:Zornsamlingarna) located in Mora, is a museum dedicated to the works of Anders Zorn. It was designed by Ragnar Östberg
Ragnar Östberg
Ragnar Östberg was a Swedish architect who is most famous for designing Stockholm City Hall. He is the most famous architect within the so-called "national romanticist" movement in Sweden...
and opened in 1939.
Zorngården
In 1886, Anders Zorn and his wife Emma, had bought land close to Mora church and here they moved a cottage from his maternal grandfather's farm. When Anders and Emma Zorn decided to return to Sweden after several years abroad, they began to enlarge the cottage. Zorngården was completed in 1910.Zorngården remains today much as it was at the time of Emma Zorn's death in 1942. It is a fine example of an artist's home from the turn of the century. With inspiration from English and Swedish architecture, it is today an excellent example of the architectural freedom that characterizes the years around 1900.
The main part of Zorngården consists of Zorn's home and a museum with his art, but there are two other museums that also are part of the Zorn Collection. Gammelgården is in the southern part of Mora and consists of 40-something timber houses that Zorn bought to make sure that the old art of building such houses would not be forgotten. Gopsmor, Zorn's refuge when under stress, is in the municipality of Älvdalen
Älvdalen
Älvdalen is a locality and the seat of Älvdalen Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 1,812 inhabitants in 2005....
and is only open for visitors in July.
Other major works
- Martha Dana (later Mrs. William Mercer) (1899) Museum of Fine Arts, BostonMuseum of Fine Arts, BostonThe Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?recview=true&id=32314&coll_keywords=&coll_accession=&coll_name=&coll_artist=anders+Zorn&coll_place=&coll_medium=&coll_culture=&coll_classification=&coll_credit=&coll_provenance=&coll_location=&coll_has_images=&coll_on_view=&coll_sort=6&coll_sort_order=1&coll_view=0&coll_package=0&coll_start=1 - George Peabody Gardner (1899) Museum of Fine Arts, BostonMuseum of Fine Arts, BostonThe Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?recview=true&id=33629&coll_keywords=&coll_accession=&coll_name=&coll_artist=anders+Zorn&coll_place=&coll_medium=&coll_culture=&coll_classification=&coll_credit=&coll_provenance=&coll_location=&coll_has_images=&coll_on_view=&coll_sort=6&coll_sort_order=1&coll_view=0&coll_package=0&coll_start=1 - Traveling companion (Mr. Charles Deering) (1904) Museum of Fine Arts, BostonMuseum of Fine Arts, BostonThe Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?recview=true&id=149798&coll_keywords=&coll_accession=&coll_name=&coll_artist=anders+Zorn&coll_place=&coll_medium=&coll_culture=&coll_classification=&coll_credit=&coll_provenance=&coll_location=&coll_has_images=&coll_on_view=&coll_sort=6&coll_sort_order=1&coll_view=0&coll_package=0&coll_start=1
Other sources
- Birnbaum, Britta (1985). Paintings at Nationalmuseum. (Stockholm: Nationalmuseum) ISBN 91-7100-273-1
- Lidbeck, Sven (2007). Anders Zorn Etchings - Catalogue Raisonné 2007. (Stockholm: Zorn Gallery) ISBN 978-91-631-8962-3
Additional reading
- Asplund, Karl. Anders Zorn: His Life And Work (edited By Geoffrey Holme The Studio, Ltd. 1921)
- Laurvik, John Nilsen Anders Zorn ( F. Keppel. 1913)
- Engstrom, Albert Anders Zorn (Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Forlag . 1928) Swedish
- Boethius, Gerda Anders Zorn;: An international Swedish artist, his life and work (Stockholm: Nordisk Rotogravyr, 1962) Swedish
- Hagans, William and Willow Zorn In America: A Swedish Impressionist of the Gilded Age (Swedish American Historical Society, 2009) English
External links
- Anders Zorn
- Biography
- Zorn Collections
- Zorn Gallery in Stockholm
- Mora, Sweden
- listing of 289 Zorn prints with reference numbers, etc., many with images artistarchive.com
- Zorngården