artist: Leif Knudsen (Swedish 1928-1975)
medium: oil on canvas
dimensions: 54 1/2 x 37 1/2 cm (approx)
signed and dated 62
presented in its original frame
AU $1550 (approx US $1000 / 935 EUROS / 148,000 yen / 815 GBP - for exact current conversion visit xe.com)
artist biography
Leif Colbjörn Knudsen was born on November 20, 1928 in Stockholm. He was a Swedish painter and print maker.
He was the son of the actor Kolbjörn Knudsen and the artist Asta Knudsen. He studied in the early 1950s with André Lhôte in Paris. He took private study trips to England, Holland, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. He returned to Sweden in 1949 to study at the Valands konsthögskola (Art College) in Gothenburg under Endre Nemes until 1953. Whilst there he participated the student exhibitions at Mässhallen and Art Gallery in Gothenburg, had print editions included in the the Valand portfolio as well self-published the lithographic portfolio Zarathustra -53. Upon graduating Valands he went on and won a Franska Staten scholarship to Paris to study tapestry technique and monunmental painting. He created a tapestry during this time which was woven in Aubusson and now in the collection of the Vara company.
Knudsen worked as an abstract artist and gradually shaped his painting non-figuratively. He exhibited across Sweden and also internationally in solo and group exhibitions. He had solo exhibitions at Varberg in 1952, Galleri Aveny in Gothenburg in 1954, Lorensbergs Konstsalon in Gothenburg in 1956, Konsthallen, Gothenburg in 1958, Gummesons in Stockholm in 1960, Rosanders in Landskrona in 1960, Norrköpings Museum in 1960, Galleri 54, Gothenburg in 1962 and 1964, Jacques Massol in Paris in 1966, and Galerie Pierre in Stockholm in 1966. He showed in group exhibitions in Sweden, Norway, Finland, France, Holland, England, Germany and the USA. These include Nya Valand (New Valand), Poetisk Abstraktion (Poetic Abstraction), Riksförbundet för bildande konst. (National Bound for Fine Arts), Konstfrämjandet ‘Grupp Väst’. He was one of the group Poetisk Abstraktion - alongside Jan Stenvinkel and Lars-Erik Ström. Under this name the three exhibited at Gothenburg Konsthall, Gävle Museum, Lund Konsthall, Skövde Konsthall, Eskilstuna Museum and Gummesons in Stockholm.
He was one of the founders of Grupp 54 in Gothenburg in 1954. The group started a gallery in Gothenburg in 1958, inaugurated with an exhibition by the surrealist Max Walter Svanberg . Grupp 54 also awards a prize from the Leif Knudsen memorial fund.
He produced a number of public commissions including a mural titled Samson for Restaurang Lejonet in Gothenburg in 1953, an enamel suite and tapestry for Restaurang Norre Kavaljeren in Halmstad and a ceiling painting in Fässbergsskolan, Mölndal 1963–64.
Knudsen is represented in numerous public collections including the National Museum in Stockholm, the Moderna Must in Stockholm, the Malmö Museum, the Gothenburg Museum of Art, as well as at the museums in Borås, Eskilstuna, Halmstad, Karlstad and Norrköping, and the Institut Tessin in Paris.
Knudsen passed away on May 20, 1975 in Gothenburg.