The Gothenburg Colourists clothed the West Coast and Gothenburg in scintillating colour. In the 1930s, their work was characterized by a powerfully expressive use of colour without counterpart in Sweden. Intense hues, bold brushwork, intimate motifs, and passionate visions have won artists such as Åke Göransson, Ivan Ivarson, Nils Nilsson, Karin Parrow, Ragnar Sandberg, and Inge Schiöler a place in the public’s heart. The history of this vital artistic current, sparked by a few students at the Valand School of Art, is a success story. But it is also a story of tragedy, as several of the artists had mental illnesses and died young. In a series of essays, authors and scholars examine Romantic mythologizing around the movement, its critical reception, the artist’s role, and historiographical questions, as well as the role of the city itself and its galleries and dealers. The volume introduces an expanded gallery of Gothenburg Colourists along with works by their forerunners and successors and related colourists from Denmark and Norway.
The research based exhibition catalogue has been published in collaboration with Appell Förlag in conjunction with the exhibition at the Gothenburg Museum of Art: Wonderful Colour – Gothenburg Colourism in a New Light.
Contributors: Kristoffer Arvidsson, Per Dahlström, Martin Gustavsson, Andrea Kollnitz, Lydia Sandgren, Patrik Steorn, Jeff Werner, Håkan Wettre, and Eva Zetterman.
Research financiers: the Anna Ahrenberg Fund for Scientific and Other Purposes; the Gunvor and Josef Anér Foundation; the Alderman and Mrs Ernst Colliander Charitable Foundation; the Olle Engkvist Foundation; the King Gustaf VI Adolf Fund for Swedish Culture; the Herbert and Karin Jacobsson Foundation; the Letterstedt Society; the Wilhelm & Martina Lundgren Foundation Grants Fund; the Royal Patriotic Society; the Torsten Söderberg Foundation; the Mary von Sydow, née Wijk, Donation Fund; and the Åke Wiberg Foundation.