Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt (1878-1955)

Fisherman and Seagulls, Northern California

Details
Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt (1878-1955)
Fisherman and Seagulls, Northern California
signed and dated 'Nordfeldt 1944' lower right
oil on canvas
30 x 40in. (76.2 x 101.6cm.)
Provenance
Mr. Montfort Dunn
American Swedish Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota by bequest of above, by late 1940s
Kramer Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1988-1991
Private Collection, Minnnesota, since 1991
Exhibited
New York, Linda Hyman Fine Arts, American Modernism From Nature to Abstraction, October-November 1995

Lot Essay

RELATED WORK:
Driftwood, North Pacific, 1946, oil on canvas, 34 x 48in., Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois

Starting in 1944 Nordfeldt gave up his earlier style of Cezannesque landscapes and still lifes. He "obtained new energy and vitality that was to be sustained for the rest of his career. Color was back in his work and his attention was directed to simplified design and away from the actual application of paint. New subject matter entered his work after a trip to the California Coast. The sea, nature, birds, fish and twisted forms of driftwood all found their way into Nordfeldt's pictorial investigation in the harmony and unity of nature and the relationship of birds and fish to nature and land." (B.J.O. Nordfeldt, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1981, p. 5)