artist: Allan Erwö (Swedish 1921-2007)
medium: oil on canvas
dimensions: 66 x 42 cm canvas size / 78 x 54 cm framed size (approx)
signed and dated -55
presented in its original restored frame
AU $1150 (approx US $725 / 665 EUROS / 109,500 yen / 560 GBP - for exact current conversion visit xe.com)
artist biography
Allan Albion (Eriksson) Erwö was born April 13, 1921 in Malmö. He was a Swedish painter and print maker.
Erwö was initially self taught as an artist and in 1942 at the age of 21 he was admitted to the Skåne Art Association's autumn exhibition in Malmö. He later began formal art study at the Skänska Malarskolan in Malmö under Tage Hansson from 1947 to 1948 and at the Kunstakademi (Royal Art Academy of Arts) in Copenhagen under Krasten Iversen from 1950 to 1952. He undertook study trips to Paris, the south of France and to Spain.
His first solo exhibition took place in Krognoshuset, Konstföreningen Aura, in Lund in 1949, with a follow-up solo exhibition the following year in Kristianstad. Other solo shows include ones at Malmö City Hall, Lilla Konstsalongen, Malmö, and Limhamns Konstförening. He regularly showed his work in group exhibitions organised by the Skänes konstförening (Skänes Art Association) and the art associations in Kristianstad, Ängelholm and Klippan, the Stockholms salong shows at Liljevalchs, Helsingborgs Konstförening and Landskrona Museum. He initially painted stylised landscapes, alongside formal figure studies and still lifes. Toward the end of the 1950s he gradually transitioned into a more abstract style, often depicting abstractions created by shadows and reflections in space.
Erwö's studio was located for almost 50 years on S: t Knuts Torg 6b in Malmö. The attic studio had already been planned as an artist's studio when the building was built in 1928. It consisted of a large studio room with two flanking deep niches, accentuated by a striking skylight-vaulted ceiling. The studio was previously a workplace for Malmö artists Richard Björklund and then Karl Enock Ohlsson (whom Erwö took over the contract from in 1957). Beginning in 1952, he and his wife Ella Henrietta, acquired a plot of land overlooking the Kattegat, where they built a residential house and studio designed by Erwö for their own use and used over summers.
Erwö was very involved in the art scene throughout his life. He was active in the KRO - Konstnärernas Riksorganisation (Artists National Organisation), the Skånska Konstnärsklubben (Skåne Artists' Club) and in the SKYS-Galleriet on Stortorget in Malmö. He was also involved in the construction phase of the Artists' Collective Workshop in Malmö, where he became the foundation's chairman in 1971. In 1954 he was awarded Ellen Trotzig's art scholarship and this was followed by a number of different artist scholarships over the years.
Erwö is represented in public collections including works held at Malmö Museum, Statens Konstråd (Swedish National Arts Council), Helsingborgs Museum, Motala Stads samlingar, Landskrona Museum and Kristianstads Museum.
He passed away at the age of 86 on July 25, 2007.