Birger Sandzén (1871-1954); Summer in the Mountains (1923)

Lot 211

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11944 North Tracey Road
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Coeur d’Alene Art Auction specializes in the finest classical Western and American Art representing past masters and outstanding contemporary artists. The auction principals have over 100 years of combined experience in selling fine art and have netted their clients over $325 million in the last fif...Read more

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Fine Western & American Art by Coeur d'Alene Art Auction

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Fine Western & American Art

By Coeur d'Alene Art Auction

Jul 25, 2020

Set Reminder 2020-07-25 15:00:00 2020-07-25 15:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Fine Western & American Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/coeur-dalene/fine-western-american-art-5263 The 2020 Coeur d'Alene Art Auction to be held July 25 in Reno, Nevada, will feature 264 selections of unparalleled quality in Western paintings and sculpture from historical and contemporary artists such as Charles M. Russell, Henry Farny, Thomas Moran, Edward S. Curtis, Carl Rungius, and more. Coeur d'Alene Art Auction info@cdaartauction.com

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Lot Description

Birger Sandzén (1871-1954)
Summer in the Mountains (1923)
oil on canvas
60 x 80 inches
signed and dated lower left

According to the Kansas Historical Society, “It was fortunate for American art and Kansas when a young Swedish artist named Sven Birger Sandzén decided to emigrate to Lindsborg in 1894. Sandzén became one of Kansas’ best known artists.

“Born in 1871 in Sweden, Sandzén developed a love for art at a young age. Educated in Swedish universities, Sandzén went to Paris to study with masters where he was introduced to Pointillism and Impressionism. Bethany’s founder, the Reverend C. A. Swensson, encouraged the 23-year-old Sandzén to come to Bethany College to head the school’s art department.

“The artist’s early paintings have subdued hues; his later works in oil are more vivid. He portrayed his adopted state in a variety of ways—lithographs, drawings, watercolors, and oils. The drawings and prints range from appealing portraits of pioneers to the stone houses, trees, small streams, and broken country of west-central Kansas.

“In 1930 Sandzén helped organize the Prairie Print Makers Society to help spur an interest among artists, laymen, and collectors. He formed the Prairie Water Color Painters in 1933 to provide encouragement and training for young painters in the region.

“His favorite subject always remained the Kansas landscape. It has been said that through his unique painting style, he was able to transform these scenes into ‘opalescent jewels of shimmering colors.’ He was described as ‘the one painter in the United States who by-passed the art movements of the past forty years and reveals himself as a bridge between the impressionists and the so-called abstract expressionists’ and who gave something to art in Kansas that is beyond measure.

“Sandzén never left Bethany for any extended period of time although he served as visiting faculty at a number of American universities and art schools. He spent many summers in the Southwest and much of his art reflects his interest in the mountains and their dramatic colors.”

PROVENANCE
The Artist
John S. Ankeney (Director of Dallas Fine Art Museum 1929-1935)
Bethany College, Lindsborg, KS
[Auction in Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM 2011]
Private Collection, CA
[The Coeur d’Alene Art Auction, Reno, NV 2015]
Private Collection, NM 2015

Condition

Surface condition is very good. Faint cracks in portions of painting with thicker paint (primarily in tree leaves, tree bark, and larger rocks). Several small spots of inpainting throughout.