ERIC GRATE, bronze brown patina, signed Eric Grate and numbered 1/5.
"Bird demon" (Fågeldemonen). Foundry mark Herman Bergman Fud. Height 49 cm (incl wood base 54 cm).
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Viewing at Bukowskis, Berzelii Park 1 in Stockholm, March 24-30 (not March 28-29), 11 am - 5 pm. Collection takes place at Bukowskis, Västberga Allé 3, from March 31.
Insignificant surface dirt. Minor scattered scratch marks. Uneven patina. Some patina rubbed off to the edges. Overall good condition.
Gunnar Eklöf m.fl. "En bok om Eric Grate", 1963, compare p. 39-40, 45.
Ragnar von Holten m.fl. "Eric Grate. Skulptur", 1990, compare p. 19.
Sommaren 1945 fick Eric Grate i uppdrag av regissören Alf Sjöberg att utföra scenbilder och kostymer till Dramatens uppsättning av Jean-Paul Sartres "Flugorna". Uppdraget passade Grate särskilt väl med tanke på hans förtrogenhet med den grekiska antika konsten och, efter långvarig vistelse i Frankrike, den franska kulturen. Idéen med förvandlingsformen mellan människa och de fabelväsensaktiga flugorna och insekterna fick stor betydelse för Grates fantasi efter 1945. Efter dräktskisserna till "Flugorna" arbetade Grate fram skulpturer i brons, däribland "Flugornas försångare" (1945) och"Fågeldemonen" (1946).
Eric Grates idiosyncratic world of images always invites exploration and wandering within the imagination. While he respects the the earths natural forms, he sometimes "plays with god", manipulating and playing with nature to create new surprising objects which we recognise but simultaneously dont recall. He borrows fragments from nature and uses his endless imagination to create art in his unique way. His visual language emualtes an aura of abstract surrealism derived from "object trouvés". Grate was inspired by natures radiance and its different forms. Stones, roots, insects, bones, all were transformed into sculptures, particularly the insect world was a source of great inspiration for Grates. During the 1960s, beach, hull, and bones were particularly the starting points for his sculptures. He created numerous official artworks.
Grate began his academic trips after finishing his studies at Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts from 1979-20, where he travelled to Italy and Greece, filling his sketchbooks with studies of insects, plants, unique architecture, sculpture, and ceramics. He spent a longer period between 1924 and 1933 in Paris, a formative period where he was one of the few Swedish artists who was associated with the avante garde; we got in contact with none other than the surrealists Jean Arp, Paul Eluard, and Tristan Tzara. Grate is seen by many as one of Sweden's most influential sculptors during the 1900s.
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