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Lot Essay
Jan et Dagny Runnqvist ont bâti leur collection sans délaisser leurs origines suédoises. C'est avec le coureur automobile suédois Joakim Bonnier que Jan fonde la galerie Bonnier en 1961, nom que le couple Runnqvist tient à conserver en mémoire de leur ami décédé en 1972. Plus en amont, Bonnier et Runnqvist sont les héritiers de la Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet à Stockholm, fondée par Gösta Olson et rejointe en 1929 par le père de Jan, Harry Runnqvist. Au décès de ce dernier, en 1964, Jan reprend la galerie au sein de laquelle il a acquis ses premières expériences professionnelles, tandis que Joakim Bonnier y réalise ses premiers achats de collectionneur. Jan travaille donc entre la Suisse et la Suède avant qu'il ne ferme la galerie suédoise en 1973 pour se concentrer sur la Galerie Bonnier. Après cette date, les Runnqvist s'efforcent d'entretenir, dans leur galerie de Genève, des relations intimes avec les artistes suédois et les réunissent dans leur diversité esthétique afin de continuer à promouvoir cette scène artistique qui leur tient à coeur. Du travail de la matière de Fahlström aux sculptures de Lundgren, en passant par les références amusées d'Ekman et les recherches sur la couleur et les transparences chez Bonniér et Tengblad, tous ces artistes témoignent d'une identité propre qui a su séduire le couple suédois.
Jan and Dagny Runnqvist built their collection without abandoning their Swedish origins. It is with the Swedish racecar driver Joakim Bonnier that Jan founded the Bonnier Gallery in 1961, titling that the Runnqvist couple was willing to keep in memory of their dead friend, passed away in 1972. More upstream, Bonnier and Runnqvist are heirs of the Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet in Stockholm, founded by Gsta Olson and who was joined in 1929 by Jan's father, Harry Runnqvist. When the latter died, in 1964, Jan took up the Gallery in which he had his first professional experiences, while Joakim Bonnier made his first purchases as a collector. Jan therefore worked between Switzerland and Sweden before closing the Swedish Gallery in 1973 in order to focus on the Bonnier Gallery. After this date, the Runnqvist worked hard to maintain, in their Gallery in Geneva, close relationships with Swedish artists, and to bring them together with their aesthetic diversity to keep on promoting this artistic scene about which they cared. From Fahlström's work of the material to Lundgren's sculptures, Ekman's amused references, and Bonniér's as well as Tengblad's researches on colors and transparency, all these artists testify to this own identity that attracted the Swedish couple.
Jan and Dagny Runnqvist built their collection without abandoning their Swedish origins. It is with the Swedish racecar driver Joakim Bonnier that Jan founded the Bonnier Gallery in 1961, titling that the Runnqvist couple was willing to keep in memory of their dead friend, passed away in 1972. More upstream, Bonnier and Runnqvist are heirs of the Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet in Stockholm, founded by Gsta Olson and who was joined in 1929 by Jan's father, Harry Runnqvist. When the latter died, in 1964, Jan took up the Gallery in which he had his first professional experiences, while Joakim Bonnier made his first purchases as a collector. Jan therefore worked between Switzerland and Sweden before closing the Swedish Gallery in 1973 in order to focus on the Bonnier Gallery. After this date, the Runnqvist worked hard to maintain, in their Gallery in Geneva, close relationships with Swedish artists, and to bring them together with their aesthetic diversity to keep on promoting this artistic scene about which they cared. From Fahlström's work of the material to Lundgren's sculptures, Ekman's amused references, and Bonniér's as well as Tengblad's researches on colors and transparency, all these artists testify to this own identity that attracted the Swedish couple.