GÖSTA ADRIAN-NILSSON, pencil on paper, unsigned. Executed circa 1930.
Study for "Låsta plan". Image circa 6.5 x 9.5 cm. Sheet circa 10.5 x 13.5 cm.
Creases. Time stained. Minor stain.
Managing director of Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet, Stockholm, Harry Runnqvist.
Managing director of Galerie Bonnier, Geneva and Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet, Stockholm, Jan Runnqvist, Ph. D. (by descent from the above mentioned, his father).
Subsequently by descent.
Jan Torsten Ahlstrand, 'Biografi i årtal', published in "GAN. Gösta Adrian Nilsson. Perioden 1914-1932", 2002, compare "Låsta plan" resting on GAN's lap in interior photo (taken by Lennart Olson in Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 1953) accompanied by Pontus Hultén and Oscar Reutersvärd in connection with the exhibition "L'art suédois 1913-1953" at Galerie Denise René in Paris.
On display at Arsenalsgatan 2.
Compare "Låsta plan" (executed circa 1930, canvas laid down on panel 35 x 45 cm), sold at Bukowskis, Stockholm, Sale 590, vårens Moderna auktion, 19 April 2016, lot 121.
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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