Ernst Nilsson, Uppsala printmaker.

Ernst Vilhelm Nilsson

(1892-1937)

Swedish painter and printmaker

Today as promised a hardly outside his hometown of Uppsala known printmaker. Reading the biographies of most modern printmakers one cannot miss seeing the lines, ties, and influences from the first pioneering (color) printmakers (Dow, Fletcher, Brangwyn & Urushibara, Phillips, Kandinsky, Munch, Orlik) in England, France, Germany and America around 1900 and their first and second generation of students, schools and followers to this day. The skills of most famous and successful printmakers can be traced back to this handful of important and pivotal figures.

Born in 1892, Ernst Nilsson could have been such a second generation  printmaker-artist, but very little Scandinavian printmakers are amongst them. I know of none. Like many of his Nordic colleagues Nilsson was a self-taught printmaker and I would like to know what inspired and attracted him to the medium. 

 Uppsala's Chateau Borowiak, now the village theatre, photo 1936

Son of a mason and policeman Nilsson started his career as a housepainter and later joined the Technical School in Uppsala to study what I think was the equivalent of “Arts and Crafts”. This must have been the place where the inspiration to become a printmaker originated. Almost all of his work shows his hometown: the Swedish University city and centre of Uppsala. He never travelled far from home and other then these biographical notes there’s nothing more to be revealed, Nilsson died aged 45.

What I like most is the enviable way he is able to create depth and perspective in his views almost without the use of color or keyblock, just the grays and sometimes a faint orange roof or yellow glowing window lantern. I think his style is imediately recognizable and quite unique and I wonder how he came to develop it. Frank Brangwyn's  (1867-1956) mastery of light and dark in his prints, etchings and drawings is stylishly closest of what I can come up with.

Public bathing facilities in Uppsala

I’ve found this monochrome picture of the celebration by Uppsala students of the Walpurgis-night. The rituals of coming of spring on the night of April 30^th exactly 6 months after Halloween. It’s from “Nordisk familjebok” first published in 1876, maybe it's a clue. The photo of 1960's celebrations is also taken in Uppsala.  Compare the student's traditional white hats in prints and photograph!

Many of Nilsson's prints show the jolly student life in his historic hometown and many of its historic buildings, the cathedral (dating back to the 13^th century) and castle (building started in 1549). Uppsala University was founded in 1477 and is among the worlds oldest and the oldest in Scandinavia. 

 Woodblock print, watercolor study and recent photograph (detail). 

This print (and contemporary picture) of nearby Old Uppsala (Gamla Uppsala) is showing the historic medieval church and 5^th century royal burial mounds. Now he is using shades of green instead of gray, some faint brown and one dark brown/orange accent. It is the exception and sadly the only colored example I was able to find.  

This next print is more than just a bathing nude watched by two dirty old men. It is both showing Nilsson knew his Old Masters and his very personal humoristic approach to printmaking. "Susanna and the elders" by Nilsson and Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)

Nothing much has changed over a century in Uppsala ! Painting by Nilsson and a contemporary view.

All pictures freely borrowed from the Internet for friendly, educational and non commercial use.

Brueghel, Dow, Mars & Squire: Winter Time !

Although my "factual memory" (abillities for remembering and memorising facts and names) is gradualy but definitely on the decline (not what is was 50 years ago), my visual memory (storing and remembering pictures) seems to grow and without any signs of limitation. One of the benefits, aided by a powerful computer, is recognising, "seeing", or thinking one sees, ties and connections. Hail the aging process ! 

Pieter Brueghel the younger (1525-1569) "Hunters returning", winter in the Low Countries 1556. (see also here*)

Arthur Wesley Dow (1857-1922): "Moon over Marshland". From his first set of 15 designs Dow printed some 200 differently colored versions.

Ethel Mars and Maud Hunt Squire: "Winter Time", illustration from "A childs garden Verses" by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) first published in 1902. I can't help thinking this is a wonderful pastiche and even after 100 years a glorious wink to us and Masters old and new. Ethel Mars and Maud Squire, later, were tought printmaking in Paris by life long friend Edna Boies Hopkins (1872-1937) who had been student of Arthur Wesley Dow. Dow  was the first to develope Japanese printmaking without a keyblock. Before in the mid 1890's the three women had been students in the Cincinatti Art Academy. 

All pictures borrowed freely from the internet for friendly, educational and non commercial use.

Bror Julius Olssen Nordfeldt: continued

Some thoughts about Whiteline printmaking 

Today as promised in my before posting here are examples of Nordtfeldts’ Whiteline method printmaking. That is: the few I could find. If these prove to be all his output they are outnumbered 3:1 by his traditional Japanese style prints. 10 years after his initial printmaking he seems to have shifted his attention to  summer residence Provincetown. The local people and village views, with the emphasis on dresses and patterns, probably influenced by the ideas and trials of his female printmaking friends. To wich extend the temporarliy returned from France couple Ethel Mars and Maud Squire were influenced by possibly the earliest of creative printmaking endeavours by Wasili Kandinsky (1866-1944), who Mars called  the "grand-father of the group of Provincetown printmakers, Nordfeldt no doubt being the father and Blanche Lazell the daugter), and Edvard Munch (1863-1944) who experimented with partial and jig-saw printmaking as early as  in the late 1890's is beyond my capabillities of judgement.   

Upper: Wasili Kandinsky 1903, Lower Edvard Munch 1899 

I dare not jump to any conclusions but maybe Nordfeldt wasn’t so convinced by the results after all. His style changed dramatically and he is very far from the original and pioneering Fletcher and Dow adept and artist he was in and around 1906 (when Mars and Squire were still in Paris). His printmaking activities seem to have stopped after 1916 altogether. 

The new possibilities using the Whiteline method (more, and more easy coloring) smothered the artistic creativity required by the difficulties and limitations in traditional Japanese printmaking. The effect, I think, often reduced to “painting by numbers”. Moreover the general use of separating colors makes it very difficult if impossible to make distinctions between the works of different artists other then their compositional originality and choice of location and subject.

The unanimous choice of using the same harmonic Japanese color combinations isn’t a big help in distinguishing them either. Besides a pivotal figure in the invention and early development, Nordfeldt seems to have been the only male printmaker that has ever given it a try before WW2. The method and its popularity in America never crossed any ocean either to the East or  to the West.

There are exceptions of course. Edna Boies Hopkins (1872-1937) and Ethel Mars (1876-1956) succeeded best by exploring and combining the best of two worlds of printmaking avoiding with success the before mentioned effect. But only because they were among the most accomplished traditional printmaking artists of their time years before. 

Left: Ethel Mars and Maud Squire by Edna Hopkins. Right: Woman with sunflowers by Ethel Mars.

Tea: Ethel Mars and Maud Squire by Maud Squire

With Nordfeldt these two ladies were the real creative geniuses (geniae?) of that perticular group of early printmakers that tried combining the Japanese traditional with Old-world pioneers and new-World ideas.

All pictures borrowed freely from the Internet for friendly, educational and non commercial use.

Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt

Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt

(1878-1955) 

American painter, etcher and printmaker

Reading and learning from Charles’ Modern Printmakers recent posting* on American printmaker Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt and explaining his use of color gray, another Swedish, but outside Sweden hardly known printmaker came to my mind. 

While organizing my pictures files I stumbled upon some subtle but nevertheless not before detected or discussed elements in Nordfeldts printmaking. I hope it is interesting stuff for who likes Nordfeldts prints. Who doesn’t ?

So, before disclosing, this other Swedish printmaker's often humorous prints today some printmaking details in Nordfeldt’s woodblock prints. The artist signed always B.J.O. Nordfeldt but there are academic books on his etchings titled Nordfelt. Nordfeldt's added his mothers family name Nordfeldt to his  after arriving in Chicago in 1891. He has a namesake Albert Julius Olssen(1864-1942) a British marine painter he most probably will have met when staying in  Cornwall in or soon after 1901. Ollsen was leading a painting school in St. Ives.

I always thought these differences in color were due to aging, discoloration  and loss of quality but closer examination shows he not only experimented with the grays but also with combining different color accents and a choice of traditional Japanese color combinations. Sometimes these are minute: count the red flowers in the bowl !

Many of the prints' edition numbers are not clear enough to make conclusions here. Besides some prints are so rarely seen that I know of only one (public) example, like these two below. 

Although very few examples are available some edition prints show no differences in color choice or accents like the fishermen in the mist and the birch twig other then the individual characteristics of every individually inked and pulled print. What is clear: 1906 was his most prolific printmaking year.

  
But different examples of other prints showing clearly his trials and ideas. Sometimes  only minor differences, never radical.

This seeking aesthetic perfection and color harmony leading in the mid 1910’s, in the Provincetown Art Colony, to the American way of printmaking: the White Line method enabling the application of different colors and/or different combinations more easily. 

Nordfeldts co-developing whiteline printmaking (he did not invent the idea  entirely alone as was often suggested) enabled him to use more colors and his style changed as dramatically as the new possibillities allowed him. I will show them in next seperate posting. Sticking to Japanese colors, by Nordfeldt and all other Whiteline pioneers is what amazes me most. 

This method was first embraced and used by Provincetown colony artists like Edna Boies Hopkins, Ethel Mars, Maud Squire and Blanche Lazell the most famous. But there were more, highly original printmakers like Ora Inge Maxim (1895-1992), Mary Mullineux, Mildred McMillen and a handful of others. Many of them changing eventually their Japanese way of printmaking into this new way. Sometimes even combining both.   

As Charles stated: Nordfeldt also was a teacher. Elisabeth Colwell (1881-1954) who created not many prints but most are very delicate and original, was a student. 

This perticular print reminding me of Takahashi Hiroaki (Shotei)(1871-1945 ): Snow at Ayase River

And finally for those who'ld like to know how traditional printmakers like Nordfeldt created his early prints here's a print I've stumbled upon, in status nascendi: three colors applied. An example of the the finished print however I've never seen. Maybe he's abonded this project.  

Next: Whiteline prints by Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt.

All pictures borrowed freely from the internet for friendly and educational non commercial use.