CARL KYLBERG. “At the crossroads - The fault of the road”.
Description
Oil on canvas, 88 x 103 cm. Signed CK and on verso CK. Executed in 1944. With frame executed by the artist's wife.
PROVENANCE
Ruth Kylberg
Fam. Ahlstrom, Bergsjöholm
Bukowskis, 28 Apr 2003
EXHIBITED
Riksförbund för bildande kunst, Carl Kylberg, nr. 143, cat. no. 4th.
National Association for the Performing Arts, Expressionism, exhibition no. 206, No. cat. no. I'm 19.
Liljevalchs Konsthall, Carl Kylberg, 20 Apr-12 May 1946, cat. no. I'm 41.
Liljevalchs Konsthall, Carl Kylberg Memorial Exhibition 1954, exhibition no. 208, cat. no. 154.
Kunstnärnes Hus, Oslo, Oslo Exhibition, Nov 1948, cat. no. 129
Kunstforeningen, Copenhagen 1956, cat. no. I'm 49.
Fyns Stifts Kunstforening, Odense, Jan-Feb 1957
LITERATURE
Brita Knyphausen, Carl Kylberg - Färg och idea, Malmö 1964, illustrated p. 151, and listed in the catalogue 1931-1940, cat no 274, p. 256.
Nils Ryndell et al., Carl Kylberg, Carlssons bokförlag, Borås 1992, cited p. 63.
“Colors are noise - color is music. Art is a secret. To find it requires a world of patience, courage and consistency. No one can ever reveal the secret of a great art”.
So writes Carl Kylberg in his diary notes. Despite his efforts time and again to decipher his art and describe his artistic endeavor, the written word does not do Kylberg's art justice. To understand his intentions, one must turn to the paintings, which strike the viewer like a blow in the solar plexus. It is impossible to defend against their authenticity, sensuality and power. With his light-saturated painting with soaring shapes, hot colour schemes and an often religious undertone, Carl Kylberg created a whole new kind of art. For this fearless poet of color, the colorite was spiritual forms and expressions of the soul. He even went so far as to refer to all his works as self-portraits.
Carl Kylberg is considered one of the portal figures in 20th century Swedish art, and today his place in Swedish art history is obvious. But that hasn't always been the case. Like all distinctive artists, Kylberg was thwarted and misunderstood. Some art critics spoke of disintegration and modern decay, others about his art being ragged. This culminated in the controversy surrounding the 1937 painting “The Upbreak”, when Arthur Engberg, the Ecclesiastical Minister, forbade the Nationalmuseum to acquire the painting on the grounds that it lacked “dignity”, which took Kylberg very hard.
Kylberg was the genuine autodidact. For only one semester he pursued studies for Carl Wilhelmson at Valand Art School in Gothenburg. Otherwise, he raised himself to be an artist. His sights were initially set on becoming an architect, and his studies took him to Gothenburg, Stockholm and Berlin. In the German art metropolis, he became an avid consumer of culture, filling his leisure time with concert and museum visits and studies in classical literature. Here he also made his great discovery - that he was meant as an artist. At first he executed pastels with biblical motifs, and over the course of his long career he came to continually return to these, albeit most often using oil as a technique. Kylberg's artistic success came rather late in life. His first solo exhibition was held in Stockholm in 1926, when the artist was approaching the age of fifty. After decades of modest success and a struggle to earn a living, he and wife Ruth were now able to enjoy greater financial freedom.
At this spring's Moderna auction, Stockholms Auktionsverk has the pleasure of selling no less than three central works in Kylberg's production, all three with a distinctive luminosity and vitality. The painting “Vid skiljovägen - Väskälet” was added late in Kylberg's career, when he was at the peak of his career. The motif is found in several paintings, the most famous of which is the aforementioned “The Breakup”.
Carl Kylberg's art was highly personal, saturated in colour and almost luminous. The luminosity of his paintings strikes the viewer even today, capturing a reflex of the eternal.Show more
Condition
Slightly wavy canvas, repairs, For further information, please contact victoria.svederberg@auktionsverket.se.
Resale right
No
Artist/designer
Carl Kylberg (1878–1952)
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
Description
Oil on canvas, 88 x 103 cm. Signed CK and on verso CK. Executed in 1944. With frame executed by the artist's wife.
PROVENANCE
Ruth Kylberg
Fam. Ahlstrom, Bergsjöholm
Bukowskis, 28 Apr 2003
EXHIBITED
Riksförbund för bildande kunst, Carl Kylberg, nr. 143, cat. no. 4th.
National Association for the Performing Arts, Expressionism, exhibition no. 206, No. cat. no. I'm 19.
Liljevalchs Konsthall, Carl Kylberg, 20 Apr-12 May 1946, cat. no. I'm 41.
Liljevalchs Konsthall, Carl Kylberg Memorial Exhibition 1954, exhibition no. 208, cat. no. 154.
Kunstnärnes Hus, Oslo, Oslo Exhibition, Nov 1948, cat. no. 129
Kunstforeningen, Copenhagen 1956, cat. no. I'm 49.
Fyns Stifts Kunstforening, Odense, Jan-Feb 1957
LITERATURE
Brita Knyphausen, Carl Kylberg - Färg och idea, Malmö 1964, illustrated p. 151, and listed in the catalogue 1931-1940, cat no 274, p. 256.
Nils Ryndell et al., Carl Kylberg, Carlssons bokförlag, Borås 1992, cited p. 63.
“Colors are noise - color is music. Art is a secret. To find it requires a world of patience, courage and consistency. No one can ever reveal the secret of a great art”.
So writes Carl Kylberg in his diary notes. Despite his efforts time and again to decipher his art and describe his artistic endeavor, the written word does not do Kylberg's art justice. To understand his intentions, one must turn to the paintings, which strike the viewer like a blow in the solar plexus. It is impossible to defend against their authenticity, sensuality and power. With his light-saturated painting with soaring shapes, hot colour schemes and an often religious undertone, Carl Kylberg created a whole new kind of art. For this fearless poet of color, the colorite was spiritual forms and expressions of the soul. He even went so far as to refer to all his works as self-portraits.
Carl Kylberg is considered one of the portal figures in 20th century Swedish art, and today his place in Swedish art history is obvious. But that hasn't always been the case. Like all distinctive artists, Kylberg was thwarted and misunderstood. Some art critics spoke of disintegration and modern decay, others about his art being ragged. This culminated in the controversy surrounding the 1937 painting “The Upbreak”, when Arthur Engberg, the Ecclesiastical Minister, forbade the Nationalmuseum to acquire the painting on the grounds that it lacked “dignity”, which took Kylberg very hard.
Kylberg was the genuine autodidact. For only one semester he pursued studies for Carl Wilhelmson at Valand Art School in Gothenburg. Otherwise, he raised himself to be an artist. His sights were initially set on becoming an architect, and his studies took him to Gothenburg, Stockholm and Berlin. In the German art metropolis, he became an avid consumer of culture, filling his leisure time with concert and museum visits and studies in classical literature. Here he also made his great discovery - that he was meant as an artist. At first he executed pastels with biblical motifs, and over the course of his long career he came to continually return to these, albeit most often using oil as a technique. Kylberg's artistic success came rather late in life. His first solo exhibition was held in Stockholm in 1926, when the artist was approaching the age of fifty. After decades of modest success and a struggle to earn a living, he and wife Ruth were now able to enjoy greater financial freedom.
At this spring's Moderna auction, Stockholms Auktionsverk has the pleasure of selling no less than three central works in Kylberg's production, all three with a distinctive luminosity and vitality. The painting “Vid skiljovägen - Väskälet” was added late in Kylberg's career, when he was at the peak of his career. The motif is found in several paintings, the most famous of which is the aforementioned “The Breakup”.
Carl Kylberg's art was highly personal, saturated in colour and almost luminous. The luminosity of his paintings strikes the viewer even today, capturing a reflex of the eternal.Show more
Condition
Slightly wavy canvas, repairs, For further information, please contact victoria.svederberg@auktionsverket.se.
Resale right
No
Artist/designer
Carl Kylberg (1878–1952)
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
