Birger Sandzén
Encyclopedia
Sven Birger Sandzén known more commonly as Birger Sandzén, was a Swedish-American painter best known for his landscapes. He produced most of his work while working as an art professor at the Bethany College
, Lindsborg, Kansas
.
, Ulricehamn Municipality
, Västra Götaland County
, Sweden
, the son of a Lutheran minister and his wife, an accomplished watercolorist. A protégé of Anders Zorn
, Sandzén showed an interest in art at from early age, and at the age of 10 joined Cathedral School
(Katedralskolan) situated in Skara
, to study art under the tutelage of Olof Erlandsson, a graduate of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts
. After graduating in 1890, Sandzén studied for a short time at the University of Lund before moving to Stockholm
. It was his intention to enroll at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts
. However, the waiting list proved too long for him. Instead, he sought out and joined a group of young artists who were studying under Anders Zorn
, Richard Bergh
and Per Hasselberg
. This group would later be known as the Artists League (Konstnärsförbundet).
At the end of his studies, Zorn and Bergh recommended that Sandzén complete his painting studies in Paris. In 1894, Sandzén left Stockholm to study under Edmond Aman-Jean
who introduced Sandzén to pointillism
. Aman-Jean was closely associated with Ernest Laurent
and Georges Seurat in promoting impressionism
. Sandzén’s early work displays these influences, along with a tonalist approach.
and moved to Lindsborg, Kansas
which would be his home for the rest of his life. He remained on the faculty for fifty-two years, teaching various languages as well as art in his first year at Bethany. Sandzén would go on to become the head of art at the college until his retirement in 1946.
Sandzén was taken with the Smoky Hill River Valley area of central Kansas, which provided much of the subject matter for his paintings. Many of his paintings feature the great landscapes of the American Southwest. Sandzén painted many landscape scenes, including depictions of the Rocky Mountains
and Yellowstone National Park
.
Although most of his works are in oil, Sandzén was also a talented printmaker and watercolorist. He adopted a thick, textural, impasto style of painting, with the use of strong colourful brushstrokes. His bold use of stroke and color has been described variously as post-Impressionism
, expressionism
and fauvism
. His woodcuts and linocut
s were to have a lasting effect on artists to come. His artwork has been compared to Vincent van Gogh
and Paul Cézanne
.
In 1940, Sandzén was given recognition for promoting cultural relations between the United States and Sweden. He was awarded both the Order of Vasa
as well as the Order of the North Star by the Swedish Government. He also received honorary doctorates from various institutions, the Midland Lutheran College
, the University of Nebraska, and the Kansas State University
.
As a tribute to Sandzén's contribution to Bethany College, the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery
was dedicated on the college campus in 1957. It houses paintings and archives related to Sandzén and a number of his contemporaries.
Bethany College (Kansas)
Bethany College is a small liberal arts college located in Lindsborg, Kansas and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America . The college's mission is to educate, develop and challenge individuals to reach for truth and excellence as they lead loves of faith, learning and service...
, Lindsborg, Kansas
Lindsborg, Kansas
Lindsborg is a city in McPherson County, Kansas, USA. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,458. It is known for its association with Swedish heritage and the biennial Svensk Hyllningsfest...
.
Background
Sandzén was born in BlidsbergBlidsberg
Blidsberg is a locality situated in Ulricehamn Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 536 inhabitants in 2005....
, Ulricehamn Municipality
Ulricehamn Municipality
Ulricehamn Municipality is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Ulricehamn....
, Västra Götaland County
Västra Götaland County
Västra Götaland County is a county or län on the western coast of Sweden.The county is the second largest of Sweden's counties and it is subdivided into 49 municipalities . Its population of 1,550,000 amounts to 17% of Sweden's population...
, 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....
, the son of a Lutheran minister and his wife, an accomplished watercolorist. A protégé of Anders Zorn
Anders Zorn
Anders Leonard Zorn was one of Sweden’s foremost artists who obtained international success as a painter, sculptor and printmaker in etching.-Biography:...
, Sandzén showed an interest in art at from early age, and at the age of 10 joined Cathedral School
Katedralskolan, Skara
Katedralskolan in Skara is one of Sweden's oldest Upper Secondary Schools. It was founded in 1641 at the initiative of the Diocese of Skara, and its bishop Jonas Magni Wexionensis, and was approved by Queen Christina on August 31 of the same year...
(Katedralskolan) situated in Skara
Skara
Skara is a locality and the seat of Skara Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 18595 inhabitants in 2005. Despite its small size, it has a long educational and ecclesiastical history. One of Sweden's oldest high schools, Katedralskolan , is situated in Skara...
, to study art under the tutelage of Olof Erlandsson, a graduate of the 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...
. After graduating in 1890, Sandzén studied for a short time at the University of Lund before moving to 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...
. It was his intention to enroll at the 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...
. However, the waiting list proved too long for him. Instead, he sought out and joined a group of young artists who were studying under Anders Zorn
Anders Zorn
Anders Leonard Zorn was one of Sweden’s foremost artists who obtained international success as a painter, sculptor and printmaker in etching.-Biography:...
, Richard Bergh
Richard Bergh
Sven Richard Bergh was a well-known Swedish painter from Stockholm, Sweden. His paintings often depicted Swedish landscapes and portraits...
and Per Hasselberg
Per Hasselberg
Per Hasselberg was a Swedish sculptor. He was also known as Petter Hasselberg or Petter Åkesson. Little known outside Sweden, his delicate marble nudes have received critical acclaim. Hasselberg grew up in Blekinge, but moved to Paris as a young man, where he studied under François Jouffroy...
. This group would later be known as the Artists League (Konstnärsförbundet).
At the end of his studies, Zorn and Bergh recommended that Sandzén complete his painting studies in Paris. In 1894, Sandzén left Stockholm to study under Edmond Aman-Jean
Edmond Aman-Jean
Edmond François Aman-Jean was a French symbolist painter, who co-founded the Salon des Tuileries in 1923....
who introduced Sandzén to pointillism
Pointillism
Pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term Pointillism was first coined by art critics in the late 1880s to ridicule the works...
. Aman-Jean was closely associated with Ernest Laurent
Ernest Laurent
Ernest Joseph Laurent was a French painter and printmaker. He was born in Gentilly and died in Bièvre....
and Georges Seurat in promoting impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
. Sandzén’s early work displays these influences, along with a tonalist approach.
Career
Later in 1894, Sandzén accepted a teaching post at Bethany CollegeBethany College (Kansas)
Bethany College is a small liberal arts college located in Lindsborg, Kansas and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America . The college's mission is to educate, develop and challenge individuals to reach for truth and excellence as they lead loves of faith, learning and service...
and moved to Lindsborg, Kansas
Lindsborg, Kansas
Lindsborg is a city in McPherson County, Kansas, USA. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,458. It is known for its association with Swedish heritage and the biennial Svensk Hyllningsfest...
which would be his home for the rest of his life. He remained on the faculty for fifty-two years, teaching various languages as well as art in his first year at Bethany. Sandzén would go on to become the head of art at the college until his retirement in 1946.
Sandzén was taken with the Smoky Hill River Valley area of central Kansas, which provided much of the subject matter for his paintings. Many of his paintings feature the great landscapes of the American Southwest. Sandzén painted many landscape scenes, including depictions of the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
and Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...
.
Although most of his works are in oil, Sandzén was also a talented printmaker and watercolorist. He adopted a thick, textural, impasto style of painting, with the use of strong colourful brushstrokes. His bold use of stroke and color has been described variously as post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
, expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
and fauvism
Fauvism
Fauvism is the style of les Fauves , a short-lived and loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism...
. His woodcuts and linocut
Linocut
Linocut is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum is used for the relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum surface with a sharp knife, V-shaped chisel or gouge, with the raised areas representing a reversal of the parts to show printed...
s were to have a lasting effect on artists to come. His artwork has been compared to Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
and Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th...
.
Awards
Order of Vasa
The Royal Order of Vasa was a Swedish Royal order of chivalry, awarded to citizens of Sweden for service to state and society especially in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. It was instituted on 29 May 1772 by King Gustav III of Sweden...
as well as the Order of the North Star by the Swedish Government. He also received honorary doctorates from various institutions, the Midland Lutheran College
Midland Lutheran College
Midland University, formerly Midland Lutheran College, is a private liberal arts college, located in Fremont, Nebraska, USA, and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America...
, the University of Nebraska, and the Kansas State University
Kansas State University
Kansas State University, commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...
.
As a tribute to Sandzén's contribution to Bethany College, the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery
Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery
The Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery is located in Lindsborg in McPherson County, Kansas. The memorial art gallery is located in "Little Sweden", a place where Swedish immigrants founded the town. The gallery is dedicated to Birger Sandzén, who was a Swedish born painter...
was dedicated on the college campus in 1957. It houses paintings and archives related to Sandzén and a number of his contemporaries.
Further reading
- Lindquist, Emory Kempton Birger Sandzén, An Illustrated Biography (University of Kansas Press. 1993) ISBN 0-7006-0575-4