Carl Larsson
"Flickan med ämbar" (The girl with a bucket)
Signed C.L. Executed in 1902-03. Watercolour, heightening white and pencil on paper 52.5 x 34 cm.
Provenance
Herman Lindell, Helsinki; Helmer Lindell; Louise Margareta Fogelberg (née Lindell); by descent.
Exhibitions
Liljevalchs Konsthall (Liljevalchs Public Art Gallery), Stockholm, "Carl Larsson. Minnesutställning", March 6 - April 5, 1920, no. 189.
Literature
Ulwa Neergaard, "Carl Larsson. Signerat med pensel och penna", 1999, listed in the catalogue under year 1902-1903, p. 89, no. 1021.
More information
One of the studies for the monumental "Ute blåser sommarvind", also referred to as "Tilda"
(1902-03, oil on canvas, 3 x 11 meters, Hvitfeldtska Gymnasiet, Gothenburg).
Carl Larsson's assigned monumental paintings was not limited to public buildings in the capital. In 1902-03 the artist executed an 11 meter long painting for the auditorium in Latinläroverket of Gothenburg (now Hvitfeldtska Gymnasiet), commissioned and funded by Pontus Fürstenberg, Robert Dickson and August Röhss. The artist initially experimented with a motif depicting Sankt George and the dragon. One summer day, however, in Sundborn he saw several school children on their way to clean and decorate the school before graduation. They wore whistles and brushes and also had birch leaves, wreaths and catches of flowers in their hands. The visual impression was the basis for "Ute blåser sommarvind", whose title was taken from a lullaby by Samuel Hedborn. Carl Larsson designed the stage as an elongated frieze where the train of youngsters pulls out in a bright landscape. During the work with "Ute blåser sommarvind" Carl Larsson made a number of studies as can be seen in this lot "Flicka med ämbar" (1902-03) and also mentioned under the title "Tilda". The watercolor was acquired at an early stage by Herman Lindell and then inherited within the family. Helmer Lindell founded the company OY Herman Lindell AB on the Esplanaden in Helsinki in 1890 and the company sold office and artist materials, which meant that there were close contacts with artists. Herman Lindell had a large art collection with works by, among others, Axel Gallen Kallela, Helene Schjerfbeck and Albert Edelfelt
Artist
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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