Olaf, Thank you for an informative and easy to read article. I remember being at a meeting in Washington DC and coming across an antique shop on my way back to the hotel. In the shop, in a dusty corner, there was a lovely nude sculpture. It was cast copper and on her butt was stamped MAILLOL. I called my wife in Alaska, as we had been collecting nude artworks. It was $500 and while I really, really liked it, the price was not in our budget at that moment. She responded, if you really like it, get it, you may not find another piece that moves you in such a way. I still have that sculpture and this story albeit she is gone.
We later took it to an Antique's Roadshow in Anchorage. Aristide Maillot was a noted sculptor so we were excited to hear the appraisal. It was concluded that the sculpture was not an original Maillot, however the art historian did state that it very likely was from his studio, being a study piece or serving as a model for students. The level of patina had secured its timing to the artist. We still enjoyed having it and displaying in a spot of honor.
We liked collecting nudes where either we knew the artist or the model. It is wonderful how you can look at Zorn's work and genetically relate to the models. That is a very personal connection. It is also wonderful that Zorn gave his life's work to the people of Sweden, who had given him so much. Lovely in many ways.
As a stone sculptor who has exhibited pieces and a buyer, the one phrase I most often hear is "buy art that you really like to look at."
I sent you another crazy art story on email. I have way too many. Your tale reminds me of yet another story...I have a friend with 6 Camille Corot's in his living room. I point to them, "I think those are real," I say. "Yea, my Grandfather's, he got them authenticated, maybe I should do something about them....." I am thinking they are worth more than the house. He gets divorced, wife gets the house, he gets the Corots, but they are still hanging in the same house....."yea, maybe I need to get them some day."
I agree with you. His series on Midsommar celebration are like no other produced. In the biographical movie I mentioned, the relationship between him and his wife remind me of the relationship of my grandparents, stern serious wife, fun loving Anders, now mind you, my ancestry is also from there However, the mood. I assume that Zorn lived pretty Bohemian when he was on the road in Paris, etc and his wife stayed in Sweden and was quite proper. So his personal life was not a nirvana. He had his art life and his home life. That fact that his continuing disappointments to his wife never show in his art work seems the most amazing at all, or maybe that was just her way and his way......idk.
I've long admired Zorn's work and I've wished it was more readily accessible in the U.S. Do you happen to know of anywhere in the states with a good collection of his works?
The Gardner Museum in Boston has the largest collection that I know of, however, Issabelle Gardner commissioned a portrait of herself (with clothing) of Ms Grover Cleveland and other women all clothed. They have etchings but I do not remember even seeing a nude etching there.......fine portraits of these women .....there were not a lot of nudes produced for America during that period by anyone........but that is a nice museum and worth the trip.......His Howard Taft is in Washington Dc......
Smithsonian has one or two etchings, Art Institute of Chicago has many more, and I think I remember a museum in Boston, tho I may have confabulated that with Carl Larrson or another Scandinavian artist. Check Christa Zaat on Facebook. She’s the most prolific art curator on the internet, I think.
Thank you for this wonderful story, Olaf. Anders Zorn is by far and away the most popular artist on The Nudist Archive but that may be, in part, because he is also my own favorite. I first discovered his etchings at the online archives of The Art Institute of Chicago and immediately downloaded them. I’m too old to be buying original art - actually I am downsizing and selling off what I can. BT, there are at least two etchings by Zorn of a nude male and female together.
On a bitter cold and lifeless Sunday morning at a New Jersey flea market, I bought two pre-Columbian pottery pieces for a very modest sum. Examination by a local university curator proved them to be real, the one 500 years old, and the other about 200 years old, give or take a few months.. Months later, I returned to the same flea market and purchased two more pieces. Of course, they were crude fakes - I was shown the originals by photo in my curator’s extensive library of pre-Columbian art. My dearly beloved hated them all so they were sold off, accurately described as real and fake accordingly. More recently, I purchased yet another pot. - having forgotten the lessons my curator taught me, I no longer can tell the difference between kiln fired pots and those pots fired on an open fire. The lesson for me was that fakes are wonderful teaching moments - just like that fake Zorn was for you.
Provenance requests from auction houses are few and far between, in my experience. That’s too bad, because there is often a good history story behind the object that deserves telling.
Again a great and wonderful story you have given us. - What’s the origin of the Zorn photo? I have long suspected that Zorn worked from photos, a his models show movement and expressions that would be absent in static models.
Olaf, Thank you for an informative and easy to read article. I remember being at a meeting in Washington DC and coming across an antique shop on my way back to the hotel. In the shop, in a dusty corner, there was a lovely nude sculpture. It was cast copper and on her butt was stamped MAILLOL. I called my wife in Alaska, as we had been collecting nude artworks. It was $500 and while I really, really liked it, the price was not in our budget at that moment. She responded, if you really like it, get it, you may not find another piece that moves you in such a way. I still have that sculpture and this story albeit she is gone.
We later took it to an Antique's Roadshow in Anchorage. Aristide Maillot was a noted sculptor so we were excited to hear the appraisal. It was concluded that the sculpture was not an original Maillot, however the art historian did state that it very likely was from his studio, being a study piece or serving as a model for students. The level of patina had secured its timing to the artist. We still enjoyed having it and displaying in a spot of honor.
We liked collecting nudes where either we knew the artist or the model. It is wonderful how you can look at Zorn's work and genetically relate to the models. That is a very personal connection. It is also wonderful that Zorn gave his life's work to the people of Sweden, who had given him so much. Lovely in many ways.
As a stone sculptor who has exhibited pieces and a buyer, the one phrase I most often hear is "buy art that you really like to look at."
I sent you another crazy art story on email. I have way too many. Your tale reminds me of yet another story...I have a friend with 6 Camille Corot's in his living room. I point to them, "I think those are real," I say. "Yea, my Grandfather's, he got them authenticated, maybe I should do something about them....." I am thinking they are worth more than the house. He gets divorced, wife gets the house, he gets the Corots, but they are still hanging in the same house....."yea, maybe I need to get them some day."
Very import article! The vibe I get from his paintings are fantastic.
I agree with you. His series on Midsommar celebration are like no other produced. In the biographical movie I mentioned, the relationship between him and his wife remind me of the relationship of my grandparents, stern serious wife, fun loving Anders, now mind you, my ancestry is also from there However, the mood. I assume that Zorn lived pretty Bohemian when he was on the road in Paris, etc and his wife stayed in Sweden and was quite proper. So his personal life was not a nirvana. He had his art life and his home life. That fact that his continuing disappointments to his wife never show in his art work seems the most amazing at all, or maybe that was just her way and his way......idk.
Olaf - thank you for introducing me to Anders Zorn. I look forward to discovering more of his art and truly enjoyed your story.
thx, my words do not give him justice....
I've long admired Zorn's work and I've wished it was more readily accessible in the U.S. Do you happen to know of anywhere in the states with a good collection of his works?
The Gardner Museum in Boston has the largest collection that I know of, however, Issabelle Gardner commissioned a portrait of herself (with clothing) of Ms Grover Cleveland and other women all clothed. They have etchings but I do not remember even seeing a nude etching there.......fine portraits of these women .....there were not a lot of nudes produced for America during that period by anyone........but that is a nice museum and worth the trip.......His Howard Taft is in Washington Dc......
Smithsonian has one or two etchings, Art Institute of Chicago has many more, and I think I remember a museum in Boston, tho I may have confabulated that with Carl Larrson or another Scandinavian artist. Check Christa Zaat on Facebook. She’s the most prolific art curator on the internet, I think.
Yes, it was the Gardner I was thinking of.
Thank you for this wonderful story, Olaf. Anders Zorn is by far and away the most popular artist on The Nudist Archive but that may be, in part, because he is also my own favorite. I first discovered his etchings at the online archives of The Art Institute of Chicago and immediately downloaded them. I’m too old to be buying original art - actually I am downsizing and selling off what I can. BT, there are at least two etchings by Zorn of a nude male and female together.
On a bitter cold and lifeless Sunday morning at a New Jersey flea market, I bought two pre-Columbian pottery pieces for a very modest sum. Examination by a local university curator proved them to be real, the one 500 years old, and the other about 200 years old, give or take a few months.. Months later, I returned to the same flea market and purchased two more pieces. Of course, they were crude fakes - I was shown the originals by photo in my curator’s extensive library of pre-Columbian art. My dearly beloved hated them all so they were sold off, accurately described as real and fake accordingly. More recently, I purchased yet another pot. - having forgotten the lessons my curator taught me, I no longer can tell the difference between kiln fired pots and those pots fired on an open fire. The lesson for me was that fakes are wonderful teaching moments - just like that fake Zorn was for you.
Provenance requests from auction houses are few and far between, in my experience. That’s too bad, because there is often a good history story behind the object that deserves telling.
Again a great and wonderful story you have given us. - What’s the origin of the Zorn photo? I have long suspected that Zorn worked from photos, a his models show movement and expressions that would be absent in static models.