Sven Jonson

“In 1926, Sven Jonson came into contact with Gösta Adrian-Nilsson (GAN) through Egon Östlund, and it was a meeting that gave him stimulating impulses. At that time his first constructive paintings took shape. Already in some of these works one can see personal characteristics. For Sven Jonson, the most important experience of nature in his childhood and youth had been the sea: the endless stillness of the resting horizon beneath the mighty curvature of space or the rhythmic swell of storm waves. The sea is an important element in some of his plano-geometric works, such as “Black Figures” (1931). Most of these paintings are characterized by a calm and harmonious surface position with few essential elements. Technically, they are extremely carefully executed with fine variations in the surface treatment. The years 932-34 represent a transitional period in Sven Jonson's painting. New elements emerge: more realistic details, a stronger fabric effect, and the surface composition gives way to an irrational depth effect. This also marks the first steps towards surrealism.” (Exhibition catalog, Folkrörelsernas konstfrämjande, “Halmstadgruppen”, 1953, Karl Hultén, catalog no. 83, pp. 5-6).

Sven Jonson worked with purely abstract motifs in the years around 1930, and works from this period are relatively rare in his production. This was an eventful time for Jonson and his fellow artists in the newly established Halmstad Group. They received several fine exhibition offers - from Halmstad, Lund and Gothenburg - and of course “Art Concret”, Otto G. Carlsund's exhibition of French and Swedish Concretists at the Stockholm Exhibition in 1930. In August 1930, Sven Jonson wrote to Stellan Mörner that they had been invited “to a constructivist exhibition in Stockholm that will take place in August. Carlsund is the organizer. Absolute abstraction is required.”
The painting is generally post-cubist and plano-geometric during this period, but soon the group will fully embrace surrealism. With references to Amedée Ozenfant's purist “pré-formes” - the original forms taken from nature - Sven Jonson has composed the elegant painting of the 1932 auction.