"Porträtt av grevinnan Bille-Brahe"
Signed Leander Engström. Executed in 1917. Canvas 81 x 65.5 cm.
Originally in Dr Helge Dahlstedt's collections, Österås.
Subsecuently by inheritance to civil engeneer Stellan Dahlstedt.
Thence by descent to the present owner.
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, "Den unga expressionismen", 1944.
Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm, "Leander Engström", 1986, cat no 46.
Museet Kulturhuset, Borås, "Leander Engström", 1986-87.
Liljevalchs konsthall, Stockholm, "Den stora färgskrällen", 2008.
"Konst i svenska hem", no. 9, catalogoued p. 449 under collection 776: "Helge Dahlstedt - Överläkare, Eva Mörner-Dahlstedt, Österåsens sanatorium".
Hans-Olof Boström, Åke Fant och Dag Widman, "Leander Engström", 1986, illustrated in colour full-page image 46.
Leander Engström met Isaac Grünewald while studying art in Stockholm. Grünewald convinced Engström to travel to Paris and study for the great Henri Matisse in 1908. From Matisse Engström learned to paint the female body and to use colors in a expressionist way. This portrait depicts the Danish countess Bille-Brahe who is depicted with a fresh palette and dressed in a fashionable way with a dreamy facial expression.
Per leander Engström was a Swedish visual artist born in Ytterhogdal. He studied under the tutorship of Henri Matisse in Paris and the artists association school in Stockholm. Engström was part of the artistic group De Unga together with none other than Isaac Grünewald and Tor Bjurström. Engström was greatly inspired by Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne. Leander Engström followed in Osslund's footsteps and was captivated by Lapland's overwhelming natural scenery, which he depicted using the forms and colors of Fauvism. His paintings from 1912-15 - landscapes, still lifes, nude scenes - are harmonious and emotional, built upon Cézannes principles of discrete, weak colours. The years between 1916 and 1919 kan be understood as his most expressionistic period. Sweeping lines, large stylised planes and bright strong colours dominated his characteristic style. Engström found himself in Italy between 1920 and 1922 where he studied the early Rennaissance; it was during this time that he neared new objectivity. Leander Engström was one of Matisse's most impressive pupils.
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