67051: Birger Sandzén (American, 1871-1954) Cathedral

Birger Sandzén (American, 1871-1954) Cathedral Spires (No. 2), 1919 Oil on canvas 48 x 36 inches (121.9 x 91.4 cm) Signed lower left: Birger Sandzén PROVENANCE: The artist; Margaret Sandzén Greenough, Lindsborg, Kansas, by descent; [With]American Legacy Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri; Private collection, New York, acquired from the above, circa 1995. Cathedral Spires (No. 2) is an unusually early tour de force of Birger Sandzén's oeuvre. Utilizing his hallmark Fauvist palette and strong, energized brushwork in this monumental work, the artist dazzles his viewer. Originally owned by the artist himself, Sandzén's masterwork firmly ranks the artist among the finest of America's plein air painters. An associate member of the Taos Society of Artists, Sandzén was a Swedish-born artist famous for his vibrant landscape paintings of the American southwest. The son of a minister, Sandzén displayed an early artistic talent, which was encouraged and cultivated by his parents. His formal artistic training was completed in Europe, and in 1894 he immigrated to America, where he had accepted a teaching position at Bethany College. For more than 52 years, Sandzén was a professor of art history, drawing, and painting in the small Kansas town of Lindsborg. He was a staunch advocate of the arts and worked within his community to organize art clubs, exhibitions, and lectures. Throughout his career, however, Sandzén's own painting was relegated to late night sessions until 1945, when he retired from teaching in order to devote himself to painting full time. Sandzén's early artistic style was heavily influenced by Tonalism and Scandinavian Romanticism, but once he began spending his summers in the American southwest, his palette exploded with color. He began visiting Taos in the summer of 1918 at the height of the artist colony. Four years later Sandzén was elected an associate member of the Taos Society of Artists. That same year, 1922, he exhibited with the group in New York, where he also had a one-man exhibition at the Babcock Gallery. In 1920, an art critic from the Washington Star offered the following commentary on Birger Sandzén's work: "The colors used are rather vivid but they are superb and the work has the bigness of the country represented...Furthermore, the colors, while vivid, are perfectly attuned and their values are nicely related. The effects, while startling, are intensely significant and the illusion of light and atmosphere is admirably set forth. "The kind of simplification that one finds in these canvases is what the modernists have apparently sought but have, to the present time, secured only clumsily. It is the simplification of nature with a broad vision. It is founded on tradition and it has the basic qualities common with all great art...It is modern. It is contemporary. It is essentially American. It breathes the spirit of the West and it opens new vision. Here is a painter who is worth remembering and whose experimentation must be regarded with utmost respect" (as quoted in E. Lindquist, Birger Sandzén: An Illustrated Biography, Lawrence, Kansas, 1993, p. 81). With its thick, textural impasto style and strong, colorful brushwork, Cathedral Spires (No. 2) embodies the accolades showered upon Sandzén in 1920, and is as relevant and impressive today as it was when painted in 1919. We wish to thank Cori Sherman North, Curator of the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery, Lindsborg, Kansas, for her invaluable cataloguing assistance. This painting is recorded as #344 in the Sandzén card catalogue of the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery. HID03101062020 © 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Condition Report: Original canvas. Under UV exam, there does not appear to be inpaint. Fine craquelure in areas of thicker impasto. Scattered spots of surface soiling and dust.
Framed Dimensions 57 X 44.5 Inches Heritage Auctions strongly encourages in-person inspection of items by the bidder. Statements by Heritage regarding the condition of objects are for guidance only And should Not be relied upon as statements of fact, And do Not constitute a representation, warranty, Or assumption of liability by Heritage. All lots offered are sold "As Is"

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