artist: Britta Simonsson-Örtenholm (Swedish 1911-1993)
medium: oil on canvas
dimensions: 38 x 46 cm canvas size / 50 x 58 cm framed size (approx)
signed
circa 1940s/50s
presented in its original frame
AU $1270 (approx US $860 / 770 EUROS / 121,500 yen / 650 GBP - for exact current conversion visit xe.com)
artist biography
Britta Simonsson-Örtenholm (Swedish 1911-1993)
Gerda Britta Simonsson-Örtenholm was born on January 26, 1911 in Stockholm. She was a Swedish artist.
She studied at the Tekniska skolan in Stockholm between 1928 and1931, then at the Reimannschule in Berlin 1931-1932, at Maj Bring's målarskola (painting school) 1933-1934, at the Kungliga Konsthögskolan (Royal Academy of Arts) in Stockhom from 1934-1939 and at Grünewald's målarskola. She took study trips to Italy, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. She began to paint in the footsteps of the Impressionists with motifs in a refined palette.
Simonsson-Örtenholm exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout her career. Select solo exhibitions includes ones at Modern konst i hemmiljö (Modern Art in a Home Environment) in 1942, Konstnärshuset in 1947 and at Lilla Galleriet in 1959 in Stockholm. She showed alongside Edith Fischerström and Stig Åkervall in Skövde in 1951 and together with her husband Götrik Örtenholm in Växjö, Skövde and Borås. She shows in several of HSB's exhibitions God konst i alla hem (Good Art in All Homes) during the 1940s and 1950s as well as in the Sveriges allmänna konstförening (Swedish General Art Association) salons in Stockholm, the Svenska konstnärernas förenings (Swedish Artists' Association) exhibitions at the Konstakademien and Gothenburg's art gallery as well as the Nordiska konstnärinnor (Nordic Female Artists) exhibition at Liljevalch art gallery and a series of group exhibitions at Lilla Galleriet. She was awarded the Stockholm City Cultural Scholarship in 1964. She painted portraits, figurative compositions, interiors, landscapes, flowering fruit trees and still lifes in a light colour palette.
She was awarded a prize in a competition in 1956 for art at the T-centralen station in Stockholm. The public art piece was completed in 1960 at Hagsätra subway station in Stockholm. It consists of a wall mosaic in soft ctones with a music theme and is titled Melodin (The Melody), or alternatively Flöjtblåsarna (The Flutes).
Simonsson-Örtenholm is represented in a number of public collections in Sweden including the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Arkivmuseum, Archive for Decorative Arts in Lund and the Smålands Museum.
In 1950, she married the artist Götrik Örtenholm.
She passed away in Stockholm at the age of on April 30, 1993.