Lot 24
Birger Sandzén(1871-1954)Wild Horse Creek (Pasture with Creek), Graham County, Kansas 29 7/8 x 40 in. framed 36 x 45 1/2 in.
Amended
26 April 2022, 13:00 PDT
Los AngelesSold for US$93,615 inc. premium
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Aaron Bastian
Director
Birger Sandzén (1871-1954)
Wild Horse Creek (Pasture with Creek), Graham County, Kansas
signed 'Birger Sandzén' (lower right) and titled, inscribed and dated 'Lindsborg, Kansas / 1948' (on the reverse)
oil on Masonite
29 7/8 x 40 in.
framed 36 x 45 1/2 in.
signed 'Birger Sandzén' (lower right) and titled, inscribed and dated 'Lindsborg, Kansas / 1948' (on the reverse)
oil on Masonite
29 7/8 x 40 in.
framed 36 x 45 1/2 in.
Footnotes
Provenance
Estate, San Diego, California.
Birger Sandzén was a Swedish-born artist famous for his distinct and vibrant landscape paintings of America's Great Plains and the Southwest. The son of a minister, Sandzén displayed early artistic talent, which was encouraged and cultivated by his parents. Amongst other teachers he studied for years with Anders Zorn in a group that would eventually be known as the Artists League (Konstnärsförbundet). Following Zorn's advice, he continued onto Paris to complete his artistic education under Edmond-François Aman-Jean and it was in Paris where he was introduced to Impressionism and in particular Pointillism. These movements had lasting influences on his use and interpretation of color. In 1894 he immigrated to America, where he accepted a teaching position at Bethany College. For the next 52 years, Sandzén was a professor of art history, drawing, and painting in the small Kansas town of Lindsborg. In 1922 he was elected an associated member of the Taos Society of Artists, just one of many accolades he would receive in his long career. He was a staunch advocate of the arts and worked within his community to organize art clubs, exhibitions, and lectures. Upon his retirement in 1945 Sandzén's own painting practice became his full-time concern.
The present lot Wild Horse Creek (Pasture with Creek) was created in 1948. Wild Horse Creek ran through land owned by Sandzén's in-laws near Bogue, Kansas. It was clearly a rich subject as over decades he painted it on numerous occasions as well as producing a lithograph in 1922. Sandzén said of this location to his daughter, Margaret, "Wild Horse Creek was a blessing to me and a lesson in simple construction - construction of earth, of ground itself - water, sandstone, hills and pasture." Here we see Sandzén's mature signature elements: heavy impasto, irregular brushwork, and vibrant colors. This painting feels like it was sculpted as much as painted. The trees come out of the picture plane in the center and push back in purple shadows directly behind. Another remarkable effect is the artist's treatment of the distant hills on the horizon line. They are composed of the same colors as the sky only in darker tones and lay almost like frosting on the green hills that form the bulk of the middle of the painting. Strikingly, almost the entirety of the water at the lower center of the painting is composed with the colors of the surrounding rocks and earth. There are only a few touches of white and lighter blue at the edges to force the viewer to register the reflection Sandzén has created with paint and masterful skill.
Saleroom notices
Please note that this painting is dated 1940 (on the reverse).
