HELMER OSSLUND. Indalälven - autumn atmosphere in Norrland.

Oil on canvas, 82 x 151 cm. Signed Helmer Osslund.

PROVENANCE
Åmells Konsthandel, Stockholm.
Private Collection, Stockholm.

Autumn has made its way. The thin birch bows to the wind and waves can be seen on the Indal River, known for its dazzling beauty. The attenuated rays of the autumn sun still manage to give light and radiance to the landscape, and the gray and bluish surfaces of the mountains reflect the sky. Below you can see one of the characteristic nips of the valley. The bright sandbank that lines the coast settles like a wavy band in the landscape, and with its earthy color gives a warm contrast to the gray scale.

The great Norrland painter, Helmer Osslund, was born in 1866 in the parish of Tuna, near Sundsvall in Medelpad. Interest in the landscape existed in the home on the farm Danielsberg where his father, Daniel Åslund, was a surveyor and writer. Before the eldest son's great deed, depicting the Norse landscape, was initiated, he had a dream of becoming an architect. The dream took him across the ocean to the United States where, in his search for practice, he was led into a watercolor course. At home, an artistic formation, now in decorative painting, continued at the Högre kunstskolan in Stockholm. His talent was noticed, and in 1889 he was hired as a decorator at the Gustavsberg porcelain factory.

To the Swedish art scene, a new open-air painting had come with the many artists who had stayed in France during the 1880s. The artist Richard Berg, who was one of the front men of the new movement, encouraged Osslund, whom he met in 1893, to begin painting freely following nature. With an increasing desire to devote himself to such painting, in the same year Osslund set out into the world anew, now with a view to France. In Paris, he studied at the private art school Académie Colarossi but eventually got the address of a cheaper painting school. Its teacher turned out to be Paul Gauguin, who at the time lived a secluded life in the city. Herje Granberg and Nils Palmgren write in their literary work “Helmer Osslund”, 1952, that “Gauguin praised Osslund for his color sense and artistic perception”. During Gauguin's six-week teaching period, Osslund created a foundation for his atmospheric interplay between colorful masses.

Osslund returned to Medelpad in 1898 where he began to depict the landscapes surrounding the watercourses. He first settled in Fränsta by the river Ljungan, and shortly afterwards in Liden by the Indalälven river. Tirelessly he set out on rambles in the hilly environment and in search of suitable vantage points for his painting. He preferred to depict the landscape when there was a shift, a change of weather or a change of season. In the current work “Indalälven”, where autumn has made its entrance, you can see the typical of Osslund, the dramatic movement and the Art Nouveau decorative elements in the soft design of the white lichen and in the formation of the sheer clouds.

In the beautiful landscape before our eyes, Osslund had its roots. There he climbed in the mountains and there he found the best vantage points over the beautiful Indal River. With both great feeling and nerve, he has managed to capture an early autumn day with all its energy and beautiful colors.

For further information, please contact cecilia.berggen@auktionsverket.se.