"Theatre speculations"
Signed C.L. within a circle. Executed in 1904. Watercolour 77 x 134 cm.
Captain Axel Claësson; Beijers Auktioner, Stockholm, Sale 17, "Beijers Klassiska vårauktion", April 22-24, 1987, lot 279; private collection (acquired at the above sale).
Konst- och industriutställningen i Norrköping, Sweden, 1906, no. 25; Gallerie Miethke, Vienna, 1906; Galleri Ernst Arnold, Berlin, March 1910; Konstföreningens för södra Sverige Carl Larsson-utställning, Malmö, Sweden, 1910, no. 85; Public Art Galleries, Brighton, "Exhibition of the work of modern Swedish artists", April-July 1911, no. 105; The American Art Galleries, New York, "Exhibition of Contemporary Scandinavian Art", December 10-25, 1912, no. 34; Art Institute of Chicago, "Exhibition of Contemporary Scandinavian Art", February 25 - March 16, 1913, no. 34; Liljevalchs Konsthall (Liljevalchs Public Art Gallery), Stockholm, "Invigningsutställning. Larsson-Liljefors-Zorn", March - April, 1916.
Ernst Malmberg, "Larsson-Liljefors-Zorn. En återblick", 1919, illustrated full page in the plate section; Ulwa Neergaard, "Carl Larsson. Signerat med pensel och penna", 1999, listed in the catalogue p. 94, no. 1089 and illustrated full page in colour, p. 315.
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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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