Karin by the linen cupboard (Karin vid Linneskapet)

Details

Carl Larsson (1855-1919)
Karin by the linen cupboard (Karin vid Linneskapet)
signed with the monogram and dated '1906' (lower right)
watercolour, pen and black ink and black chalk heightened with white on paper
24¾ x 38in. (63.3 x 96.5cm.)
Executed in 1906

Provenance

Thorsten Laurin, by whom acquired directly from the artist in 1906 (SEK 2,000).
Fritzes Hovbokhandel, Stockholm.
Ingemar Follin, Västeras.
Anon. sale, Bukowskis, Stockholm, 1947.
Dr. Asplund, by whom acquired at the above sale (SEK 9,150).
Acquired in the 1950s by the family of the present owner.

Literature

G. Nordensvan, Carl Larsson, vol. II, Stockholm 1920-21, p. 229.
H. & S. Alfons, Carl Larsson, Skildrad av honom själv i text och bilder, Stockholm 1952 (illustrated in black and white p. 210).
M. Snodin & E. Stavenow-Hidemark (eds.), Carl and Karin Larsson, Creators of the Swedish style, London 1997, p. 157 (illustrated).
U. Neergaard, Carl Larsson signerat med pensel och penna Norstedts, Stockholm 1999, no. 1212 (illustrated p. 362).

Exhibited

Stockholm, Konstnärshuset, 1906, no. 67.
Vienna, Galerie Miethke, Nov. 1906, no. 67.
Berlin, Ed. Schultes Kunstsalon, 1906.
Munich, Sezession, May 1908.
Helsinki, Carl Larsson exhibition, 1913, no. 33; this exhibition later travelled to Abo.
Malmö, Baltiska Utställningen, May-Sept. 1914, no. 78.
Stockholm, Lijevalchs Konsthall, Larsson, Liljefors, Zorn, inaugural exhibition, March-April 1916, no. 70.
Copenhagen, Charlottenborg, Svenska Konstutställningen, Nov.-Dec. 1916, no. 464.
Stockholm, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Commemorative exhibition, March-April 1920, no. 214.
Stockholm, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Commemorative exhibition, 1953, no. 284.
London, Victoria and Albert Museum, Carl and Karin Larsson, Creators of the Swedish style, Oct. 1997-Jan. 1998, no. 165a.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The present work portrays Larsson's wife Karin by the linen cupboard in the 'Gammelrummet' at Lilla Hyttnäs in Sundborn in 1906. The enormous German cupboard was formerly in Larsson's studio in Gothenburg. In January 1906, Karin wrote to her mother Hilda Bergöö, 'Carl was intending to go [to Stockholm] this week. However, he started to paint me in the 'Gammelrummet' when I started to empty the linen cupboard to reorganise it. The contents are spread all over the floor and have been for a week now' (quoted in U. Neergaard, op. cit., p. 109).

We are grateful to Ulwa Neergaard for her kind assistance in cataloguing this lot.

More from IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART (DAY SALE)

View All