Anders Zorn

Accompanying a major retrospective of Anders Zorn’s work, this is the first volume in English to explore the Swedish Impressionist’s entire career in depth. Anders Zorn (1860–1920) is one of Sweden’s most accomplished and beloved artists. Renowned for his light, expressive watercolors, he attained mastery of the genre at an early age and later applied his techniques to oil painting. Zorn is often compared with the artists John Singer Sargent and Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, contemporaries who also were known for their portraits of high-society figures. Taking up residence in London and then in Paris, Zorn established himself as an international portrait painter, depicting fashionable clients in a style both elegant and relaxed. He became a favorite among wealthy American collectors, bankers, and industrialists who sat for him, including art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner and three U.S. presidents. Although perhaps best known for his portraits, Zorn brought equal skill to painting genre scenes and views of nature. This handsome volume provides a thorough introduction to the artist and his works, from portraiture to landscapes and his famous nudes. Four illustrated essays are accompanied by a chronology, selected bibliography, an exhibition checklist, and an index.

Anders Zorn's life and career are almost unparalleled in Swedish art history.

Catalog of an exhibition held at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Feb. 28-May 13, 2013.

The "painters' painter," Anders Zorn (1860–1920) studied at the Stockholm Royal Academy of Art and took up residence in London and Paris, where he established an international roster of high-society clients. His striking portraits rivaled those of his contemporary John Singer Sargent in their popularity. Zorn excelled at both watercolor and oil painting, and his etchings are of the highest quality. Uninhibited by the limitations of the medium, the Swedish artist exhibited complete mastery of the plate, bending the art form to suit his own direction. His etchings display the same characteristics and likeness of his paintings, consisting chiefly of portraits and genre scenes. This collection of Zorn's finest etchings, which date from 1883 to 1918, features art from the 1922 Verlag Ernst Arnold edition. An ideal showcase of Zorn's artistic style and technical ability, this book provides a captivating gallery of people in repose and in motion—making music, riding horses, boating, and swimming. Some of the etchings are nude, others depict the fashions of the day. This new edition is enriched by a Foreword by James Gurney, author of Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter and Imaginative Realism.

Anders Leonard Zorn (1860 –1920) was Sweden’s artist who obtained international success as a painter, sculptor and print-maker in etching. His fame abroad is founded mostly on his portraiture where he had the ability to capture the character and the personality of the depicted person. But also his graphic work, where he is among the most talented of all times, is well-known. Known as the "Swedish Impressionist", the painter Anders Zorn is best known for his alfresco nudes. These female figures were mainly depicted outdoors, using the plein air painting technique, often by the sea and in natural light. He strove to reflect a synthesis between nature and the human body manipulating paint onto canvas with rapid brushstrokes. His works were particularly popular in America at the time of his death, his prints sometimes selling for more than those of his mentor Rembrandt. Paintings by Anders Zorn can now be seen in several of the best art museums around the world.

The "painters' painter," Anders Zorn (1860–1920) studied at the Stockholm Royal Academy of Art and took up residence in London and Paris, where he established an international roster of high-society clients. His striking portraits rivaled those of his contemporary John Singer Sargent in their popularity. Zorn excelled at both watercolor and oil painting, and his etchings are of the highest quality. Uninhibited by the limitations of the medium, the Swedish artist exhibited complete mastery of the plate, bending the art form to suit his own direction. His etchings display the same characteristics and likeness of his paintings, consisting chiefly of portraits and genre scenes. This collection of Zorn's finest etchings, which date from 1883 to 1918, features art from the 1922 Verlag Ernst Arnold edition. An ideal showcase of Zorn's artistic style and technical ability, this book provides a captivating gallery of people in repose and in motion—making music, riding horses, boating, and swimming. Some of the etchings are nude, others depict the fashions of the day. This new edition is enriched by a Foreword by James Gurney, author of Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter and Imaginative Realism.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1921 edition. Excerpt: ... When Zorn was working in London in 1882 it was natural that the young Swedish artist should visit his fellow-countryman who was then best known in England, Axel Herman Haig, the etcher, who had already achieved a certain success. This meeting was to be of importance for Zorn. Haig immediately appreciated his dazzling gifts and became his instructor in the art of etching. In 1882 Zorn executed his first plate, a portrait of Haig, and this marks the beginning of his triumphal progress as an etcher, which is familiar to everyone interested in this branch of art. Swedish graphic art at the period of this memorable event forms a dark background to Zorn's own brilliant contribution. Copper engraving and lithography had by this time lost their importance as means of artistic expression. We had really one etcher of importance, Georg von Rosen, who had, however, devoted only a small portion of his creative power to his historical etched glass of the 'sixties and 'seventies. In the spring of 1875 original etching began for the first time to be regarded with interest by leading artists in Sweden. It was then that the Belgian artist, L. Lowenstam, opened his school of etching in Stockholm and some well-known artists began to practise the art, either directly as his pupils, or under the influence of the newly aroused interest for this branch of art. The painters of 'paysage intime were most typical of this period. But the pupil of Lowenstam who was to have the most brilliant future was Carl Larsson, well known later as one of the few Swedes, after Zorn, who were successful in achieving some reputation as etchers. But it was only the technique of etching that Zorn had to learn from Haig. The most thorough investigation would not produce any evidence...