artist: Knut Janson (Swedish 1882-1966)
medium: oil on canvas
dimensions: 26 x 21 cm canvas size / 40 x 35 cm frame
signed and dated 1942
presented in its original frame
AU $725 (approx US $560 / 460 EUROS / 58,500 yen / 410 GBP - for exact current conversion visit xe.com)
artist biography
Knut Albert Emanuel Janson was born December 30, 1882 in Vallentuna. He was a Swedish painter and print maker.
Janson studied at the Konstnärsförbundets skola (Swedish Artists' Association's School) from 1905 to 1908. He subsequently undertook private study trips to France and other European countries.
Together with fellow Swedish artists Isaac Grünewald, Sigfrid Ullman, Birger Simonsson, Tor Bjurström, Leander Engström, Edward Hald, Einar Nerman, Carl Ryd, Gösta Sandels, Ture Ander and others he helped form the art group "De unga" (The Young) which began in the autumn of 1907. In art history they are responsible for the modern current in Swedish art. On three occasions - in 1909, 1910 and 1911, the group's members exhibited at Hallins konsthandel in Stockholm. In 2009, an exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of “De Unga”'s inaugural exhibition was held at Säfstaholm Castle. Knut Janson is a subject in a painting by Isaac Grünewald in his work “"Konstnärskamraterna i Simlångsdalen 1909” (Artist Comrades in Simlångsdalen 1909) which is part of Prince Eugen's collection. In the presentation of anniversary exhibition, Birgitta Milits wrote of this painting: "We see Sigfrid Ullman, most like an English lord in sports trousers and elegant calves, Knut Janson tall as the king of Denmark and Birger Simonsson. The three are tall and stately."
Janson is best known for his landscape works of Stockholm and France. Quoting a newspaper article (in Swedish) from 1952 that comes attached verso of the painting this is written of his work: “(Janson) has painted landscapes in the Stockholm archipelago, but has probably enjoyed even more the richer and cheery nature on the outskirts of Stockholm and the immediate surroundings: on Djurgården and Drottningholm, around Pálsundet, Hammarby trail etc. He likes the cultural landscape with large deciduous trees and lush greenery, and an impressionistic in technqiue, he has shown a great deal of attention to the atmospheric, to the play of air and light in nature. However, there is nothing sketchy or temporary in his landscape art; they are thoroughly elaborated paintings. Knut Janson has also made himself known as an engraver of landscape images with richly and softly varied denominations.”
He is represented with several works in the National Museum in Stockholm, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and the Norrköping Art Museum.
Janson passed away in Stockholm at thee age of 83 on October 22, 1966.