Zorn’s finest art seen through his paintings of ordinary people, particularly those of his home town Mora in Sweden.
naturalism
In 1911, he sailed to the US to paint its President, the third he had made a portrait of. But less than ten years later, Zorn was dead.
A portrait of Grover Cleveland, who had until recently President of the USA, an impudent nude, and girls frolicking in the sauna.
Nudes out in fresh air and sunshine, engravings in his distinctive lined style, and some social comment in the 1890s.
He wins himself the admiration of two rich American collectors, while returning to Sweden to paint in the country.
During a visit to St Ives in Cornwall, he starts painting in oils, then moves to Paris where commercial and artistic success await.
He resumes his travels, visiting Istanbul, Greece, Italy, then Algeria and Spain. Wonderful watercolours from there and at home in Sweden.
He became extremely popular, with his genre scenes containing animals, particularly dogs. A selection from the early years of his career.
The painting’s reception, and how it changed 19th century painting, with Courbet, Lhermitte, Naturalists, and Tom Lea III.
A fantasy self-portrait naked with a skeleton on his lap, and one of the most haunting depictions of rural deprivation. A very unusual artist indeed.
