Gösta Adrian-Nilsson
"Till Joy" (To Joy)
Signed GAN. Executed in Paris in 1922. Illustrated children's book comprising title page and nine full page illustrations in watercolour on paper, each measuring 29.5 x 25 cm.
Provenance
Gift directly from the artist to Joy (daughter of the composer Gösta Nystroem and the sculptor Gladys Heyman) on Christmas Eve 1922 in Paris.
Galerie Bel'Art, Stockholm, 1984.
Private collection, Sweden (acquired from above 1984).
Exhibitions
Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, "GAN. Gösta Adrian-Nilsson. 1884-1965", 6 April - 20 May 1984, no. 164 (under the title "Julklappsbok till Joy").
Malmö Konsthall, "GAN. Gösta Adrian-Nilsson. 1884-1965", 29 June - 26 August 1984, no. 164 (under the title "Julklappsbok till Joy").
More information
Original covers with inscribed dedication from the artist included.
Designer
Gösta Adrian-Nilsson is most notable as a visual artist, and he is a pioneer of Swedish modernism. He studied at the Tekniske Selskabs Skole in Copenhagen and later for Johan Rohde at Zahrtmann’s school in Copenhagen. As an avant-gardist, Nilsson was constantly searching for new influences. In Berlin, he was influenced by the circle around the radical magazine Der Sturm, through Kandinsky and och Franz Marc. In Paris through Fernand Legér and the artists in his circle. GAN was an eclectic in the positive sense of the word. He took the the artist styles of the 1900s and created new impressions. Symbolism, cubism, futurism, expressionism, constructivim and Theosophy were the colours occupying his internal pallet. He had a sharp eye for the masculine and his painting was often energized by the vitality of modern technology, vibrant eroticism, and echoes of tyrants. No other Swedish modern artist exhibits such a unique style.
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