Saturday, May 12, 2018

Gottfrid Kallstenius



Gottfrid Kallstenius was a Swedish painter born in 1861. 

Edit: I received the following from his great-great grandson Fredrik: "The first painting is an early one (1887) depicting the cemetery in his hometown Västervik. As you can see, he is still focused on realism (before his trip to France and Italy 1891-1894). At this time he was a student at the Swedish Royal Academy of Fine Arts. The Academy awarded him the King's medal for the painting, which made it possible for him to get a scholarship for studies abroad."


He began by studying medicine and then went into art, studying at the Academy of Fine Arts. 

"The second work is also an early one – completed when he was 25 yrs old."



He wrote a handbook of oil painting in 1915, and is represented by the National Museum in Stockholm and other museums.

"The third painting executed in 1891, just prior to his journey to France, was to be displayed at the Salon in Paris 1892."

His early paintings are carefully observed from nature, and later he became interested in symbolism and mood painting. 

"The last one (The Blessed, 1909) took him about ten years to complete, and is inspired by the Dante Gabriel Rossetti poem: The blessed damozel lean’d out from the gold bar of Heaven." 

Thanks, Fredrik!
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7 comments:

  1. LucaMay 12, 2018 at 7:04 PM

    I like the last painting a lot, but i find a bit difficult to understand the point of the realistic ones: i have the feeling that he painted (with great technical ability) everything he was seeing without making choices about what was more relevant in the landscape, since i can't decide what i have to look at, but perhaps it's just impression.

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  2. PyracanthaMay 13, 2018 at 2:56 AM

    Is that a girl in the field of image #2, seen from the back? And the last image #4 reminds me of Maxfield Parrish.

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  3. James GurneyMay 13, 2018 at 4:21 AM

    Pyracantha, yes, that's a girl. I thought it was a scarecrow at first.
    Luca, I know what you're saying, but I thought the flowers in the graveyard made an interesting statement beyond from the purely technical accomplishment. I suppose the real test would be to look at all those paintings in original.

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  4. FredNovember 7, 2020 at 5:14 AM

    Dear James, sorry for this extremely late reaction (!) - I just saw this post. Gottfrid was my great great grandfather, and I am very happy too see your display of his work.

    The first painting is an early one (1887) depicting the cemetery in his hometown Västervik. As you can see, he is still focused on realism (before his trip to France and Italy 1891-1894). At this time he was a student at the Swedish Royal Academy of Fine Arts. The Academy awarded him the King's medal for the painting, which made it possible for him to get a scholarship for studies abroad.

    The second work is also an early one – completed when he was 25 yrs old.

    The third painting executed in 1891, just prior to his journey to France, was to be displayed at the Salon in Paris 1892.
    The last one (The Blessed, 1909) took him about ten years to complete, and is inspired by the Dante Gabriel Rossetti poem: The blessed damozel lean’d out from the gold bar of Heaven.

    Should you be interested please see my Instagram account roosval_kallstenius, where a lot of other works are displayed, also those of his wife Gerda Roosval-Kallstenius.

    Best
    Fredrik

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  5. James GurneyNovember 7, 2020 at 9:44 AM

    Wow, Fredrik, thanks for sharing those deeper insights into these paintings.

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  6. Century Drywall and PaintingOctober 1, 2021 at 1:11 AM

    Nice paintings, thank's for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. NGUYEN KIM THANH PHONGApril 25, 2022 at 11:43 PM

    Hello, the whole thing is going perfectly here, that’s truly good, keep up writing.

    ReplyDelete

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