Carl Larsson
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"Suzanne and Another"
Signed C.L. within a circle and dated 1901. Watercolour 94 x 62.5 cm.
Provenance
Mr. Axel F. Sjögren.
Private collection.
Exhibitions
Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, "Minnesutställning -Carl Larsson", 6 March - 5 April 1920, no. 169.
Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, "Carl Larsson. Minnesutställning ", September - October 1953, no. 221.
Amos Andersons Konstmuseum, Helsinki, "Carl Larsson 1853-1919", 18 October 1981 - 10 January 1982, no. 41.
The Brooklyn Museum, New York, "Carl Larsson", 10 November 1982 - 30 January 1983, no. 29 (under the title "Suzanne and Another").
Blaafarvevaerket i Modum, Norway, "Sommaren med Carl Larsson", 6 May - 1 October 1989, no. 43 (under the title "Suzanne og en mann").
Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark, "Julen med Carl Larsson", 4 November 1989 - 7 January 1990.
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, "Carl Larsson-utställningen", 6 February - 10 May, 1992, no. 81.
Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Gothenburg, "Carl Larsson-utställningen", 6 June - 30 September 1992, no. 81.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, "Carl and Karin Larsson: Creators of the Swedish Style", 23 October 1997 - 18 January 1998, no. 166.
Nordiska Museet, Stockholm, "Karin och Carl Larsson -Konstnärshemmet i Sundborn", 24 October 1998 - 5 April 1999, no. 152.
Bergen Kunstmuseum, Norway, "Carl Larsson", 1 September - 30 October 2005.
Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, München, Germany, "Carl Larsson - Ein schwedisches Märchen", 17 November 2005 - 5 February 2006.
Blaafarvevaerket i Modum, Norway, "Hipp hipp hurra, 30 år med skandinavisk kunst på Blaafarvevaerket - Chr. Krohg, Carl Larsson, P.S. Krøyer og Håkon Gullvåg", 19 May - 24 September 2007.
Turku Art Museum, Finland, "Carl Larsson. Dreams of Harmony", 16 September 2011 - 8 January 2012.
Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki, "Carl Larsson. In Search of the Good Life", 10 February - 29 April 2012.
Ordrupgaard museum, Charlottenlund, Denmark, "Carl Larsson. Det gode liv", 24 September 2014 - 8 February 2015 (the motif was used as exhibition poster).
Literature
Carl Larsson, "Das Haus in der Sonne", 1909, illustrated in the shape of a drawing p. 63 (under the title "Susanne und noch jemand").
"Carl Larsson. Skildrad av honom själv i text och bilder. En krönika sammanställd av Harriet och Sven Alfons", 1952, illustrated p. 190.
"Carl Larsson. Skildrad av honom själv. En krönika sammanställd av Harriet och Sven Alfons", 1977, illustrated in colour p. 111.
"Carl Larsson", exhibition catalogue, Brooklyn Museum, New York, 1983, mentioned p. 76 (under the title "Suzanne and Another") and illustrated full page in colour on the front cover.
"Carl Larsson 1853 1919", exhibition catalogue, Stiftelsen Modums Blaafarvevaerk, Norway, 1989, illustrated full page in colour, p. 91.
"Carl Larsson", exhibition catalogue, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm/Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Gothenburg, Sweden, 1992, illustrated in colour p. 103.
Michael Snodin and Elisabet Stavenow-Hidemark, "Carl and Karin Larsson: Creators of the Swedish style", 1997, illustrated in colour p. 155 as well as full page in colour on the cover.
Michael Snodin and Elisabet Stavenow-Hidemark, "Carl och Karin Larsson. Skapare av ett svenskt ideal", 1998, illustrated in colour p. 155 as well as full page in colour on the cover.
Ulwa Neergaard, "Carl Larsson. Signerat med pensel och penna", 1999, illustrated full page in colour p. 292 and catalogued under year 1901, p. 84, no. 977.
"Carl Larsson", exhibition catalogue, Turku Art Museum, Finland/Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland, 2011, illustrated full page in colour, p. 38.
More information
In March 1901 when the Larssons, who had previously spent the winter half of the year in Stockholm, moved to Sundborn for good, an old woodshed on the northern side of the house was pulled down and a two-story extension of the original cabin built in its place. This extension, which connected the main building with the newer studio, housed on the ground floor a pantry, a washing room, a maid's chamber, a boy's room and a bathroom; on the upper level was a guest room - the so-called Old Room - and a room for the eldest daughter, Suzanne.
In "Suzanne and Another" the seventeen year old daughter is shown helping to paint the decorative floral frieze of day lilies and sunflowers, in her father's style, around the top of the clean white wall. Two of the Sundborn craftsmen who helped the Larssons to build and paint their house are at work on the outside and partly visible through the window openings.
One of them has been identified as the painter Carl Oscar Persson who frequently worked for the Larsson household. Persson would later pose for Larsson in the watercolour "The Carpenter and the Painter" (private collection) executed in 1909 and depicting, not only, Persson but also the carpenter Hans Arnbom. This later motif was used on the title-page of "Åt Solsidan" (1910) and the german version "Lass Licht hinein" (1911), publications which helped to build Carl Larsson's reputation as an artist.
Carl Larsson's international fame as one of Sweden's best-known artists (alongside Anders Zorn and August Strindberg) has had a decisive effect on the country's image abroad in the twentieth century. Crucial to this process has been the mass publication of colour reproductions of the watercolours of his home at Sundborn. Through his illustrated books in particular, Larsson reached a large and devoted public in Scandinavia and Germany during his lifetime, and in the rest of Europe, the USA and Japan from the 1970's.
"Suzanne and Another" is one of the motifs that were reproduced in these international editions, for instance in "Das Haus in der Sonne" (1909) where it appears on page 63 under the german title "Suzanne und noch jemand". "Das Haus in der Sonne" was an instant hit in Germany when it was published in 1909, the first print run of 40,000 copies sold out in an instant! One probable explanation is that the content (texts and illustrations) had close associations with contemporary aspirations for family life, health and a "simple" life in the country. The book made Carl Larsson a famous man in Germany and his poularity was to continue undiminished until his death in 1919, by which time "Das Haus in der Sonne" had sold almost 200,000 copies.
"Suzanne and Another" is one of the most frequently internationally exhibited works by the artist and has been on public display in, amongst other cities, Helsinki, New York, London and Munich. The painting was also specifically chosen as illustration for the covers of the exhibition catalogues in New York (the Brooklyn Museum) and London (the Victoria and Albert Museum) in 1982/1983 and 1997/1998 respectively.
Designer
Carl Larsson is considered one of the greatest Swedish artists of all time. He was born in Gamla Stan in Stockholm and studied at the Royal Academy of Arts in the years 1866-76. After his studies in Stockholm, he traveled to France and settled in Grèz-sur-Loing. There he mainly painted garden motifs. In France, he met his future wife Karin Bergöö, who was also an artist and came to mean a lot for his artistry. Already during his student years, he made a living as a photo retoucher and cartoonist in the press. It was also during his studies that Larsson got to know Anders Zorn and Bruno Liljefors, together the three are usually called the ABC artists. At the end of the 1880s, Carl and Karin were given "Lilla Hyttnäs" in Sundborn outside Falun by Karin's father, and this is where Larsson's most famous watercolors depicting his family were created. The motifs often depict sunny landscapes with children, crayfish fishing, meals in the green and interior scenes. Larsson is represented, among other, in the National Museum, where "Gustav Vasas intåg i Stockholm" and "Midvinterblot" fills the stairwell. Represented mainly at the National Museum in Stockholm and at the Gothenburg Art Museum.
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