On November 15 and 16, Bukowskis will be hosting the Modern Art + Design auction at Arsenalsgatan 2 in Stockholm, featuring pieces by Axel Einar Hjorth, Märta Måås-Fjetterström, Stig Lindberg, Henri Matisse, and many other artists. Here are some standout highlights you won't want to miss!
Two years after Nordiska Kompaniet was founded in Stockholm, the company established its workshops in Nyköping. These workshops were responsible for producing custom and mass-produced lighting fixtures designed by the company's top lighting architects. Nordiska Kompaniet quickly became the most innovative lighting company in Sweden at the time, introducing new types of modern lamps. These fixtures were showcased in a spacious department on the third floor of the Stockholm department store, where a small workshop was also dedicated to manufacturing and assembly. The company was also engaged in interior design projects for notable locations, including Stockholm City Hall, the Concert Hall, renowned restaurants, theatres, and cinemas. Bertil Brisborg and Olle Elmgren notably designed a special four-meter-long wall lamp, commissioned specifically for the Forellen cinema in Luleå around 1951.
The auction features design icons crafted by celebrated figures such as Axel Einar Hjorth, Carl Hörvik, Hans J. Wegner, Otto Schultz, Märta Blomstedt, and Greta Magnusson Grossman, among others. The highlight of the collection is Josef Frank's popular Flora bureau. Before Josef Frank fled to Sweden in 1933, he was employed by the Haus & Garten firm in Vienna, where he began to wallpaper cabinets with various textiles. In 1937, a few years after he began working at Svenskt Tenn, he introduced the first cabinet adorned with floral patterns inspired by Palmstruch's flora, later transitioning to Lindman's flora.
At the age of 46, Märta Måås-Fjetterström established her own studio and weaving workshop in Båstad. In this space, she crafted approximately 700 unique patterns and collaborated with skilled craftsmen to produce groundbreaking textile artworks. Måås-Fjetterström drew inspiration for her designs from the natural world, as well as from traditional Scanian textiles and the oriental carpets she encountered at the Stockholm Exhibition in 1897. On 15 November, a selection of around twenty carpets designed by Märta Måås-Fjetterström will be showcased. This collection includes pieces like Grön äng, Hästhagen, Nyponblomman, and Blåplump, which was created in 1937 and was exhibited at the New York Expo the same year.
Following a brief period residing on Katarinavägen in Södermalm, Stockholm, Sigrid Hjertén and her husband Isaac Grünewald returned to Paris. During her time in France, Hjertén created numerous portraits of women, including the painting Blonde on the Terrace, featured in the upcoming auction. According to Swedish art historian Görel Cavalli-Björkman, the model in this painting is likely Bronia Perlmutter, who was also portrayed by Isaac Grünewald and Nils Dardel. During this phase, Sigrid Hjertén's expressionist works took on a more intimate quality, incorporating a touch of realism by depicting everyday subjects with bold and intense brushstrokes.
In 1918, Gösta Adrian-Nilsson's groundbreaking exhibition 'Sjömanskompositioner' was held at Gummesons konstgalleri in Stockholm. This exhibition is often regarded as a seminal moment in the development of Swedish modernism. It featured approximately twenty oil paintings, with the predominant theme being the sailor, a subject frequently explored by the artist. An excellent example of this theme is the painting Kl. 1/2 12, depicting a sailor in what is likely Skeppsbron in Stockholm, which is also part of the upcoming auction. Much like Sigrid Hjertén, Gösta Adrian-Nilsson relocated to Paris in the early 1920s and resided there for a five-year period.
All of these pieces will be auctioned by Bukowskis on 15 and 16 November as part of the Modern Art + Design auction in Stockholm.