artist: Fritiof Strandberg (Swedish 1906-1988)
medium: oil on hessian
dimensions: 46 x 38 cm canvas size / 56 x 48 1/2 cm frame size (approx)
signed and dated 1948
presented in its original frame with freshly repainted inner liner
AU $535 (approx US $415 / 345 EUROS / 45,500 yen / 295 GBP - for exact current conversion visit xe.com)
artist bio
Fritiof Strandberg was a Swedish painter born 1906 in Bollnäs,
Strandberg first trained as a craftsman and worked for a few years in this profession until the 1930s. He studied art for Tor Bjurström at Valands målarskola (painting school) in 1925 and at Henrik Blomberg's målarskola in Stockholm. He took a number of dedicated art study trips to Denmark, Norway and France. He is considered one of the most dedicated provincial painters in Gävleborg with a factual perception of reality and national romantic portrayal. He worked with portraits, figurative compositions, town scenes, as well as atmospheric landscapes, nostalgic home-style scenes and idyllic interiors. He was known for his wonderful use of light in his work.
He made his debut as an artist in 1924 at the age if 18 in a group exhibition at Hälsingestämman in Edsbyn in 1924. From the mid-1940s Strandberg regularly participated in exhibitions arranged by Gävleborgs läns konstförening and Gävleborgsgruppen's exhibitions in Gävle and several travelling exhibitions around Sweden. He participated in the exhibition Gävleborgskonst which run at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1939 and the Swedish General Art Association's salons in Stockholm. Strandberg has solo exhibitions in Norrköping in 1942, at Olsen's art salon in Gothenburg in 1946, Söderhamn in 1948, Flekkeford in 1950, Galleri St Nikolaus in Stockholm in 1956, Wilhelmina in 1966 and several times in Gävle. He showed alongside Håkan Engström and Gustaf Nordin at the De Ungas salong in Stockholm in 1944, with Nils Söderberg and Leoo Verde in Ljusdal in 1946, and with Mårten Andersson and Per Englund in 1961.
He was the recipient of a number of art awards including the Gävleborg County Art Association's 1969 scholarship, Royal Academy's annual scholarship 1972 and Bollnäs municipality's scholarship scholarship in 1986. Examples of Strandberg’s work are held in public collection ins Sweden including the Hälsingland Museum, Gävleborg County Museum, Sundsvall Museum, Hälsingborg Museum, Enköping Museum, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, State Art Council, Hudiksvall and Bollnäs Museum.
In addition to his artistic activities, he was part-time teacher of drawing at Bollnäs Folk High School and High School in Bollnäs. Strandberg passed away in 1988 aged 82.