Carl Waldemar Olson

Carl Waldemar Olson, 1901

Carl Waldemar Olson (born August 22, 1864 in Gothenburg ; † 1940 there ) was a Swedish painter . Olson, also Olsson, made a name for himself primarily as a landscape and genre painter . Carl Waldemar Olson was a member of the Swedish artist association Konstnärsförbundet , which was dissolved in 1920.

Life

Carl Waldemar Olson is the son of Gothenburg captain Benjamin Olsson (1817–1886) and his wife Josephine Elisabeth Edel (1824–1883). The couple had seven children, but only three of them reached adulthood: John (Johan) Edvard (1849–1937) was then one of the largest shipowners in Sweden and a local politician in Gothenburg. Robert Emanuel (1862–1922) worked as a district judge in Aspeland and Handbörd. The youngest of the three brothers, Carl Waldemar, became an artist.

First, Olson studied from 1886 to 1889 as a student of Carl Larsson and Bruno Liljefors at the drawing and painting school of the city museum (Göteborgs museums konstskola). Carl Larsson, one of Sweden's most famous painters, was a founding member of the so-called Opponentenverbund, from which the artist association later emerged. Like Larsson a few years earlier and many of his compatriots, Olson stayed in France from 1889 to 1891 and studied in Paris under Gabriel Ferrier , François Flameng and Léon Bonnat . During this time he also worked in the internationally important artists' colony in Grez-sur-Loing . The work of the artists in the small town south of Paris had a decisive influence on painting in Sweden at the end of the 19th century. Even after returning home, Olson was drawn abroad again and again: in 1892 he was in Portugal, and two years later in South America. In 1908 Olson stayed in Denmark and in 1910 he traveled to Italy. Olson was also in the USA. Exactly when, however, cannot be clarified beyond doubt. There is a painting entitled “Sunset over North Carolina Stream” from 1916. Olson also visited the British Isles, a sketch from the port area in Cardiff suggests.

plant

Olson's imagery is characterized by a close-to-nature love of detail and lush, decorative colors. His painting style was strongly influenced by French impressionism. Sometimes there are astonishing parallels to the handwriting of German artists such as Sascha Schneider, Max Klinger or Max Pietschmann. Numerous German artists, such as Max Pietschmann, also went to Paris - after their studies in their home country - to receive further training there. Carl Waldemar Olson mainly painted landscapes, but also figures and still lifes in oils and watercolors. Some of his works can be seen in the Gothenburg Art Museum. The following works by Olson are documented (cf. Albin Hildebrand: Svenskt porträttgalleri, artnet.com, arcadja.com):

• 1889/1891 "Promenad utmed trädgårdsmuren" (Walk by the garden wall), France
• 1890 "Fransk gård" (French garden), "I köksträdgården" (In the vegetable garden), "Kvinna på trädgårdsgång" (woman on a garden path), "Skogstjärn" (forest lake), France
• 1891 "Ett criticiskt ögonblick" (A critical moment), "Vår i trädgården" (Our garden), France
• 1893 "Quinta dos Bonecas", Portugal
• 1894 "Allén"
• 1896 "Förförelse" (The Seduction)
• 1897 "Sensommarafton" (late summer evening), "Mansken over Landskap" (moonlight over the landscape)
• 1899 "Natt" (night)
• 1901 "Efter åskby" (After the thunderstorm), France
• 1904 "Skogslandskap" (forest landscape)
• 1907 "Landskap med Trad" (landscape with trees)
• 1909 "Blommande trädgård" (Blooming Garden)
• 1911 "Höstlandskap med vatten" (autumn landscape with water)
• 1916 "Vid vårbäcken", "Sunset over North Carolina stream"
• 1940 "Strandod"
• ???? "East Bute Dock", Great Britain

Exhibitions

Little is known about exhibitions by Carl Waldemar Olson. During his stay in France, the Swede was allowed to exhibit in the Paris Salon in 1890 - a study of dancers. In 1897 Olson took part in the so-called Stockholmuställningen (General Art and Industrial Exposition of Stockholm). At the beginning of the 20th century he exhibited in Gothenburg with his painter colleague Carl Wilhelmson . Wilhelmson also lived and worked in Paris in the 1880s and had exhibited in the Salon de Paris. In 1914, Olson was the art commissioner at Baltiska utställningen (The Baltic Exhibition) in Malmö, Sweden.

literature

• Adolph Briggen: Riksarkivet (Landsarkivet i Göteborg), book accompanying the exhibition May – October, Göteborg 2013
• Svenska Konstnärer, Biografisk Handbok Nybloms, Vänersborg 1980, ISBN 91-85040-31-2
• Alexandra Herlitz: Grez-sur-Loing revisited. The international artists' colony in a different light, Göteborg 2013, ISBN 9170611394 , ISBN 978-9170611391
• Albin Hildebrand: Svenskt portrait gallery / XX. Arkitekter, bildhuggare, målare, tecknare, grafiker, mönsterritare och konstindustrialister, page 132.

Web links

• Olson Family Archives (PDF file)
• Olson on artnet

Individual evidence

1. ^ Adolph Briggen