COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0000615
image_record_id
aahi0000615
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
Self-Portrait
Image Title:
full view
Work Dates (display):
1906
Work Dates type:
creation
Work Creator (display):
Carl Larsson (Swedish, 1853-1919)
Work Creator gender:
male
work_creator_or_agent_gender
male
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
(b Stockholm, 28 May 1853; d Falun, 22 Jan 1919). Swedish painter, illustrator and printmaker. He came from a poor family and studied (186676) at the Konstakademi in Stockholm, supporting himself throughout this period. From 1871 to 1878 he contributed illustrations to the comic journal Kaspar and the Ny illustrerad tidning. From 1875, for several decades, he was a prolific book illustrator, his most renowned work in this field being his drawings for Fältskärns berättelser ('The Barber-surgeon's tales'; pubd 18834) by Zacharius Topelius, and the Rococo-inspired watercolours for the Samlade skaldeförsök ('Collected attempts at poetry'; pubd 1884) by the 18th-century Swedish author Anna Maria Lenngren. It was only later, however, that Larsson produced most of his own prints. From 1880 to 1885 Larsson lived in France, first in Paris, then from the spring of 1882 in Grez-sur-Loing, a village south-east of Paris where a Scandinavian artists' colony had been established. Under the influence of the French plein-air painters, above all Jules Bastien-Lepage, Larsson painted a series of watercolours of the village and its inhabitants, such as The Pumpkins (1882; Göteborg, Kstmus.), In the Kitchen Garden (1883) and Autumn (1884; both Stockholm, Nmus.). These share a sentimental narrative bias, and the same tall format and high horizon, which contribute to their intimate character. In each scene a compositional rhythm is established through the contrast of empty surfaces and more detailed areas. Larsson's talent for plein-air painting is especially evident in the subtle gradations of tone and the overall silvery colouring of these paintings. In Grez Larsson met the painter Karin Bergöö (18591928), the daughter of an affluent Swedish businessman. They were married in 1883 and returned to Sweden in 1885. In 1884 Larsson had been elected a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts but had declined the honour, being too committed to the leading group of opponents to the Academy. From 1886 to 1892 he was a member of the radical Konstnärsforbundet (Artists Union). During this period he was in charge of Valands Målarskola in Göteborg, where he applied innovative methods of instruction. He was appreciated as a teacher but acquired no direct followers. In Göteborg he came into close contact with the wealthy businessman and patron Pontus Fürstenberg (18271902) who proved to be a source of both financial support and encouragement for Larsson. Larsson's first large-scale decorative painting, the triptych Renaissance, Rococo, Modern Art (Göteborg, Kstmus.), was painted in 18889 for an extension to Fürstenberg's gallery in Göteborg. In this allegorical representation, conceived in Paris, Larsson abandoned plein-air painting and worked instead with the play of lines and contours dividing the picture into clearly demarcated areas of distinct colour. In this move he was inspired by Japanese woodcuts and by the decorative style of Art Nouveau. Fürstenberg also commissioned Larsson's next large-scale decorative work, the al secco mural for the High School for Girls, Göteborg (now Göteborg, Skolmus.), where, in 13 scenes, he depicted Swedish women from the Stone Age to the middle of the 19th century. In 1891 Larsson won the competition for the decoration of the lower staircase of the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. The six frescoes, divided equally on the two walls, were installed in 1896 (in situ). The subjects follow Larsson's own proposal and consist of scenes from the history of Swedish art life during the 17th and 18th centuries, showing representatives of the arts of painting, sculpture and architecture together with royal patrons. Charles XI is seen sitting for his portrait by David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl (162998), 'the father of Swedish painting'; Nicodemus Tessin II inspects the building works at the palace in Stockholm; Johan Tobias Sergel completes the marble group of Cupid and Psyche in his studio; and Gustav III receives Roman antiquities at one of Stockholm's quays. Here Larsson further developed the style he had established for the Fürstenberg triptych, but there is more emphasis on surface and the contours are more strongly marked. Through the use of clear local colours and the fluent richness of the play of curves in the cloaks and draperies, he imbued the scenes with a mood of festivity and joy. This work is generally recognized as his most important large-scale decorative painting. Larsson continued to receive commissions for decorative schemes. From 1896 to 1897 he painted on canvas the allegory of Fame for the ceiling of the foyer of the Stockholm Opera House (in situ). In 1903 he painted Outside the Summer Wind is Blowing for the Classical High School in Göteborg (now Hvitfeldska Gymnasiet; oil on canvas; in situ), and in 19067 the Birth of Drama for the Drama Theatre in Stockholm (oil on canvas; in situ). For one of the walls of the upper vestibule of the Nationalmuseum he executed a large canvas showing Gustav Vasa's Entry into Stockholm on Midsummer's Eve in 1523 (in situ). The colouring is very pale and the emphasis is on outline, and Larsson combines stylistic influences from the Italian Early Renaissance and from Art Nouveau. For all its merits as wall painting, this work has the appearance of enlarged plates from a picture book. In 1888 Larsson and his wife inherited a cottage at Sundborn in Dalarna and spent each summer there before settling there for good in 1901. With the help of local craftsmen they gradually rebuilt the cottage to their own design, both taking part in its decoration (see Sweden, fig. 18). The cottage and the daily life of the Larsson family there became the subject of a long series of watercolour and pen-and-ink drawings by Larsson. These proved enduringly popular when reproduced and published in book form together with texts by Larsson: De mina ('Mine'; 1895); Ett hem ('A home'; 1899); Larssons ('At the Larsson's'; 1902); Spadarvet ('Rural legacy'; 1906) and Åt solsidan ('Towards the sun'; 1910). In these scenes Larsson not only recorded an idealized version of his own home but also proposed a new sense of rootedness in Swedish folk culture. The Sundborn interiors, often with rustic furniture, clean-scrubbed floors and with textiles designed and produced by Larsson's wife, also came to be understood as characteristically Swedish and were to influence interior design for a considerable time. Larsson and his wife had been impressed by the theories of the English artist William Morris and of the English Arts and Crafts Movement. They had also been influenced by articles in the English periodical The Studio, to which they had subscribed from its first edition in 1893, and they had made visits to England, where Larsson's sister-in-law was married. Larsson's demand for solid craftsmanship instead of 'industrial gaudiness' echoed Morris's strong belief in the significance of environment for moral development. There are interesting parallels between the Larsson house at Sundborn and contemporary English architecture and decoration: the lattice screen in the Sundborn anteroom was probably influenced by designs of the English architect, C. F. A. Voysey, as illustrated in The Studio. The popularity of Larsson's Sundborn illustrations was also due to his tender and occasionally droll depictions of those living in the house: his wife, his many children and the servants. When depicting his children's activities, Larsson drew on the work of Walter Crane, whose illustrations for children's books were widely known, and that of the French book illustrator, Maurice Boutet de Monvel. The Sundborn house became a museum, Carl Larsson-Gården, in 1942. Larsson was also a prolific portrait painter, producing around 160 portraits in oil, watercolour and pastel, and almost as many etchings and drawings. His work rarely attempts a penetrating character study but strives, rather, to capture the main traits of outward appearance. His portraits of women from the haute bourgeoisie are usually set in interiors with accessories relating to social standing. Examples are the watercolours of Pontus Fürstenberg's wife, Götilda Fürstenberg (1891; Göteborg, Kstmus.), and of the wife of the banker and patron Ernest Thiel, Signe Thiel (1900; Stockholm, Thielska Gal.). In Larsson's portraits of authors, background motifs often relate to their work, as with the bookshelves seen in the portrait of Oscar Levertin (1906; Stockholm, Thielska Gal.). In his numerous self-portraits Larsson generally appears as a sunny character. These works are often marked by a strong sense of self-consciousness, as in the full-length In Front of the Mirror (Self-portrait) (1900; Göteborg, Kstmus.; see fig.), where the ironic gaze undermines any element of self-glorification. The self-portrait Introspection (1906; Florence, Uffizi) has a rather different character: Larsson stands deep in thought, with an anxious penetrating gaze. In his right hand he clutches a rag-doll, a symbol of his traditional joker's role now turning against him. Larsson's personality swung between levity and dejection, and after the turn of the century his unstable moods developed towards manic depression. The infamous personal attack by his friend August Strindberg in En ny blå bok ('A new blue book') in 1908 wounded Larsson deeply. His last years were darkened by the dispute surrounding the composition of, and plans for, Sacrifice at the Winter Solstice, a large-scale decorative painting intended for the Nationalmuseum's upper vestibule as a pendant to the Gustav Vasa painting. The subject is related to the heathen era in Sweden and depicts a king who is prepared to sacrifice himself for his people in order to ensure a good harvest, following a traditional fertility rite. In Larsson's picture (13.5×6.5 m, 1915) the king is shown naked, awaiting the executioner's blow. There was a heated press debate on such subject-matter, which many found repellent. The Nationalmuseum initially refused to accept Larsson's work, but since 1992 the painting has been on deposit with them. (Grove Art Online accessed 2007-10-19)
Work Style Period:
Realist (modern European fine arts styles)
work_styleperiod
Realist (modern European fine arts styles)
Work Style Period
false
Work Style Period:
20th century
work_styleperiod
20th century
Work Style Period
false
Work Subject:
women (female humans)
subject
women (female humans)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
windows
subject
windows
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
clowns
subject
clowns
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
eyeglasses
subject
eyeglasses
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
artists (visual artists)
subject
artists (visual artists)
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
self-portraits
subject
self-portraits
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
hats
subject
hats
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
beards
subject
beards
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
men (male humans)
subject
men (male humans)
Work Subject
false
Work Worktype:
oil paintings
work_type
oil paintings
Work Worktype
false
Work Worktype:
paintings (visual works)
work_type
paintings (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
paintings
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
paintings
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Work Material and Technique (display):
oil on canvas
Work Measurements (display):
95.5 cm (H) x 61 cm (W)
Work Location (Repository or Site) name:
Galleria degli Uffizi
Work Location (Repository or Site) role:
repository
Work Location (Geographic) name:
Florence, Italy
Image Rights (display):
© Ronald Wiedenhoeft. Licensed for educational use via Scholars Resource: Saskia, Ltd.
Image Rights license agreement:
SASKIA, LTD.: WHO CAN USE THIS SOFTWARE: (a) Licensee, including faculty, staff and currently enrolled students may use the Licensed Software to display and or print the corresponding graphic images without limitation for teaching and research purposes at the defined Sites, or at remote locations having electronic access to your Site(s). (b) This license include permission to use the Licensed Software on a multi-user network at the defined Site, and to permit remote access to a computer/server located at your Site. Simultaneous display in multiple locations at or connected to the Site is also permitted. (c) Licensee agrees to employ reasonable security measures designed to limit access to your faculty, staff and currently enrolled students. PROHIBITED USES AND LIMITATIONS: (a) Saskia hereby reserves all rights not expressly granted herein. (b) the License Software may not be used for preparaiton of any publication, scholarly or otherwise; or for any purpose other than teaching or research. Publication of an image from the Licensed Software requires a separate license from Saskia. (c) Licensee agrees not to resell, lease, transfer, sub-license or otherwise distribute a copy of the Licensed Software, or any image taken from the Licensed Software, in whole or in part. (d) Licensee also agrees not to modify, corrupt or alter any digital image graphic content or "digital watermark" or the like in the software provided by Saskia under this Agreement. (e) Licensee agrees not to remove, alter, cover or distort Saskia's copyright notice, trademark, or other proprietary rights notice placed by Saskia in the Licensed Software itself, or in the associated packaging, media or documentation. (f) And Licensee agrees to notify users of the Licensed Software, in writing or by sign-on screen display, of their obligations under this Agreement and solicit their cooperation and compliance with such obligations.
Work Rights (display):
public domain
Terms of Agreement and Conditions of Use:
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Holding Institution:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Center
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see . For specific questions, suggestions, or corrections about the descriptive data for images, contact aahvrc@colorado.edu. Please include the Image Record ID ('aahi' followed by a 7-digit number) for each image in question.