Introduction to Anders Zorn

Biography of an Oil Painter (1860-1920), Part 2 of 3

Engaged, 1881-1885 (cont...)

Lucky with the Ladies, 1884

Zorn chose London over Paris to study in the country where the fine arts of watercolour had a more prominent history and tradition. His production shows attempts to adapt to the current situation in the art market. He worked on several etchings as an illustrator, but mainly concerned himself with portraits. In 1884 he completed "Lucky with the ladies", a scene from back home, completed after an enormous amount of sketching preparations where we can see how much physical and timely effort was utilised to complete a painting. He produced numerous drawings of the shoes, the hands, the hats, the trees... - essentially, everything! It is now we begin to understand that chance and luck were not elements Anders Zorn would base his production on. "It took work to create greatness."

In London he studied everything he could get his hands on, relating to Constable and Courbet. Through Count Piper, he was introduced to many fashionable family's, and in particular the Earl of Jersey, who was to become an important contact. The Earl would teach Anders how to interact with the elite; he was taught etiquette and manners, how to place his knife and fork and other such frivolities that were graced with an air of sophistication and dignity. He later remarked:

"Most of all I learned, what a complete superfluous thing the artist is for the human kind, at least for this kind of humans."

What prompted such a statement was as a consequence of the fortnight spent with the Earl: every single word spoken had something to do with the oncoming hunt. In the mansion, there was a great collection of Dutch masters, on whom nobody knew anything about. They had stored them in the basement and only taken them out on the instruction of Anders to do so.

Neglected, 1884

In London, he met with the American market through a Mr. Clarence King, a mining engineer and geologist. King socialized with such famous people as Henry Adams and John Hay, Adams being the grandson to America's sixth president John Quincy Adams. Zorn saw possibilities in such acquaintances, and seized upon the opportunities as they arose. As a result, King commissioned three portraits alongside a commissioned portrait of his wife, and during one of the sessions asked if he could arrange for more clients, " - Sure", he replied. And so the door to America laid wide open.

In 1882, Zorns official price was thirty US dollars for a portrait, but when meeting King, he raised his price to fifty dollars. (The prices reflect a full-figure painting.) This caused a minor disturbance between the two and Zorn could not help but to feel uncomfortable within the situation he had found himself. He was expected to live up to his engaged status at the same time he was living the life of the 'unchained' artist. With this conflict in mind, he painted a watercolor entitled "Neglected" on which we see a young gentleman putting on his white gloves, getting ready to go out on his own to have some fun. His young wife holds his arm, with tears on her cheeks, asking him not to be gone for long... or do not go at all. Zorn finished it on New Years, 1884, and it clearly represents an element of Zorn's own emotional conflict.

"Love Nymph"

From a letter to Emma:

"I work indefatigable on this, my love story, and it's coming along just fine. There is a Goddess, or a nymph, who just threw her self backwards to the bed, covered with luxurious drapery, trying her hardest to invite love. She shows the little bastard kid at her shoulder, where to take his aim, - straight at the viewer's heart...

Love Nymph, 1885

... " Another youngster by her side is eagerly mending his bow, which seems to be broken. A third one, peeking out with eyes filled with mischief, from behind a drapery, curious on what effect the arrow will have. An atmosphere filled with oriental draperies and flowers, sun-feather palm trees and ferns, and with places where the blue sky shines through. The painting gives me an enormous amount of pleasure, and makes me forget everything else (but you). If I have the energy (and I do) to complete it, it might very well be the greatest watercolour ever painted.
It looks finished as it is, - but I shall not leave it until it actually is finished."

He began working on it in Madrid, 1883 (when the letter above was written), but didn't finish it until 1885. It cannot be denied that "Love nymph" is a radiant display of watercolor used to sublime perfection. He finished two versions in watercolour, an oil sketch, over 60 drawings, grisailles and color sketches. He studied plants at the library, butterfly wings and he had pieces of garment lying around all over the studio. These small studies shows a remarkable talent and secure hands, almost more impressive than the painting itself. It could be viewed as a paraphrase on the Venus and Amour theme.

With this painting he established himself as the most promising artist back home in Sweden. The monumental painting became the center piece at the "movement of resistance" exhibition in Stockholm 1885. Media praised Zorn and his works.
This piece was to become a "grand finale" of a phase in Zorns evolvement. He had already started thinking about the medium of all mediums - oil.

Travels, 1881-1888

Alone from his school friends, Zorn chose to visit England influenced largely by his student visit in 1876, where he observed a five hundred piece exhibition by fellow countryman, Egron Lundgren's (1815-1875). His reverence for Egron had rendered him unreceptive to other techniques and styles used with watercolours, and had led him to vindicate his national identity and establish himself with a career as a great watercolourist.
In 1881 he set off for London with a 'letter of credit' from the Bank of Scandinavia - it was to be his station for the next four years. During this time he journeyed to Spain via Paris, encountering the works of Velázquez, Courbet, Manet, Renoir, Monet, Sargent and Makart amongst others. Upon exposure to these works, Zorn was forced to reconsider his own seductive way of handling watercolours, and so during this period of travel he became acquainted with the artistic movement of realism. Although realism did not significantly affect Zorn's anecdotal view, it brought a certain eloquence to his brushstrokes, and fluency in colour/value relationships. Zorn had begun to explore what was to become the essence of his art - the ability to draw the viewer into the creative process.

Anders Zorn, 1886

Now a married man, the period between 1885-1888 became one of great significance. As a member of the resistance movement Zorn found himself in the forefront of politics that spoke against the Academy's aging education plans. It was also a time for travel and a honing of his skills.
Zorn's marriage was frequently put under strain during these three to four years having never properly recovered from the tension present in their engagement years. From reading between the lines of his personal letters, there is a sense that Anders felt threatened by his wife's lofty background, and at the same time felt his freedom as an artist under some pressure.

It was the Lamm family who had insisted that a prenuptial agreement was signed, stating that their respective wealth and assets would be forever kept separate, yet when their marriage had begun, it was Zorn who had to live off his wife's assets. In March 1885, his half-sister Anna had died as a result of poverty and disease. Such experiences drove Anders to reassert his distinctive character and vindicate his origin.

An incident in 1887 tells us something about Ander's feelings. The couple were out traveling in England when Emma's mother called for them to come home urgently. Zorn refused to part from London and his income of one hundred and fifty dollars that was waiting for him (payment for a portrait), he had retorted, "your mother isn't worth one hundred and fifty dollars" (which was more than the cost of his own mother's house). In 1886 and 1887 Zorn began purchasing land in Mora, to help Mona (Mona is Mora slang for Mother). Despite it placing Emma into an awkward position, she always stayed loyal to her husband’s decisions.

In Top Capu, 1886

In 1885, Zorn alongside other members of the resistance went to Paris for a meeting. Here they composed the now historical document that proposed changes to the plan of education for the Honorable Royal Academy of Fine Arts. The constitution for the Association of Artists was composed here also, and still offers aid to artists in Sweden today with very flattering prices on materials in any field of art, up to a fifth off recommended retail prices. In 1886 Zorn could title himself Court Artist following a commission to paint a portrait of the two princes, Gustaf Adolf and Vilhelm, as a gift to the German council in Stockholm, who subsequently sent it onto the Emperor, Wilhelm I. This was an opportunity Zorn spoke warmly about in his autobiography.

As is the way with success and jealousy, some suspicions were aroused by Zorn's progress; he was sometimes excluded from meetings with the resistance, when he clearly would have attended. Inevitably, as Zorn and his work traveled the world, invitations would arise, such as the 'Egron Lundberg Medal of outstanding achievements in Watercolours'. In such situations the group urged him to decline the decoration. Although it may not be said that Zorn was disloyal to the movement, he showed little interest in their causes or superiority and remained open minded and benevolent in his attitudes toward beneficiaries, clients and royalties.

Emma and Zorn's honeymoon met with his wishes. Initially he first thought of China and India, but later settled for Transylvania and Constantinople, places that inspired Zorn with their potential and possibilities. Passing through Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Budapest, they found themselves in a small mountain village in Hungary, called Nagy-Enyed, and here he found: "Gypsies and swine". Zorn sought interesting people, whose faces could tell a hundred interesting stories. His ambition was to establish his skills in watercolour portraits, and in the genre art buyers would ordinarily be interested in. As he stated many times: "I want my portraits to also be paintings with a story." His intention was to make it big by becoming a travel writer, yet one who spoke through pictures, not words. Zorn spent all his days painting, and at Christmas, in Constantinople, he produced some marvellous paintings of the locals. It was here that he first started studying the surface of water, which later he was to become a master at depicting. Emma and Anders spent the holiday with the Swedish/Norwegian legation, a group of people Zorn described as, "a bunch of filthy and disgusting, political fools". The stay was to take a dramatic turn when Zorn was taken ill with a life threatening typhoid fever, terrifying both his family back home, and Mr. Cassel, Zorn's guardian in England, who sent a messenger to let Zorn know that any required resources would be provided for. Mr. Cassel had his personal doctor stand by, prepared to leave on the spot. However, it was Emma who managed to control the fever over a period of two months, and it wasn't until the end of March that year that he had enough strength to return home to Mora. By June they had reached Sweden.

Mrs Symons, 1888

The following trip south embarked on New Years, 1887, this time with a royal commission in his luggage. King Oscar of Sweden requested Zorn produce a studio painting of "The Golden Horn", located in Alger. Zorn tactfully tried to convince the King on settling for a scenery painting from the same area, but his request was denied, the King was adamant in his request. The subsequent journey to the Mediterranean gave Emma and Zorn the chance to pass through Paris and Marseille, and from there on to Alger. Zorn made many paintings of landscapes, parks and figures during these travels, but the King's painting stood out as the main piece of work undertaken at this time. The trip took them to Spain, Cadiz, Granada and Seville. Returning in May, the couple headed back toward Paris and attended a great number of exhibitions and shows. On May 25, they returned to London, shortly to be followed by Emma's trip back home. In London, Zorn launched straight into his work - the portrait of Cassel's daughter Maud and late that summer the couple reunited at Dalarö.
By fall, they returned to London, and traveled through Scotland. Zorn finished a portrait of Ms. Symons, commissioned by Cassel while residing in Cornwall which was to become a more permanent residency for the winter that followed. However St. Ives was to become the final destination for Ander's place of work. He instantly fell in love with the village, where a small international artist-colony was already established. They rented a house, and Zorn for the first time really started exploring oils. (It should be mentioned that Zorn now met and had got to know Whistler!) From his biography we can read:

Emma Zorn, 1888

"We immediately became friends with the other artists, and rented ourselves a cottage. I was anxious to begin painting in oils, and that is what I did - paint, paint, paint. I had a couple of months where I could relax and not worry about my economical future. Then I began on a painting, "a fisherman", who is flirting with a girl in a way I find somewhat peculiar. They stand side by side, leaning over a low wall and looking at the moon with the port in the background, fishing boats with red set sails ready to go to work on the ocean. It's the hour where the setting sun, with its warm shimmer, causes objects to glow. This, - my debut as an oil painter, was successful. It was bought straight off the easel by the French state, for the Museum of Luxemburg. They even gave me a "honourable mention", - How’s that?"

Zorn received one thousand francs for the painting and his international break-through was once again emphasised. During this stay he produced two masterpieces, a portrait of Emma, and "The fish market". The summers of 1886, 1887 and 1888 were spent at Dalarö and Mora, where a plethora of paintings were born. Among these was, 'Our daily bread'. This was also the time of birth for a special motif that he held close to his heart, - 'nude women bathing'. He was increasingly attracted to the oil medium, and as his interest for older art began to dissipate somewhat, impressionism came to play a larger role in his life and work, helped extensively by his travels. By the fall of 1888, Zorn settled down in Paris in an attempt to establish himself there. The decision was taken after Mr. Cassel had given Zorn a mission: to portray the telephone-king, Ernest May's children. It proved to be a very rewarding mission for Anders Zorn.

Paris, 1888-1896

Out, 1888

The period between 1888 and 1896 was a time for a personal revolution. Oil paints dominated as the favourable medium for Zorn's creative urges, as his impressionistic works reached their apogee.
Zorn and his wife had settled down in Paris, though spent summers at Mora or Dalarö. During his years in the French capital he had acquired two studios: the first was situated at Rue Daubigny, a fashionable quarter of the metropolis. He had attained this apartment (bedroom, and kitchen) during the fall of 1888, after a rewarding summer back home where he had finished two great paintings: "Out" and "A premier".One year later, he moved to Boulevard de Clinchy no. 71, which was fitted with a studio room, a dining room, bedroom and kitchen. This was to become Zorn's address in Paris until he moved back home in 1896. As in England, Zorn decorated the studio with lavish furniture and pieces of art, including work by Rembrandt and Monet. He was very keen on representing himself as 'a man of delicate and noble taste', but there were no classical historic props normally found in the artist's studio in these days.

As he had stated in his book: "- there should be a law forbidding the studio!" He added this was the case when it came to portraits in any case. He practiced what he preached: portraits should be done in the subject's natural environment and surroundings. On occasion he used the studio for portraiture works, but only when the piece had an attachment to the painter's studio.

A Premier, 1888

In 1887, Zorn had received a request from the management of the 'Uffizies', in Florence, to paint a self-portrait for their collection. It was not until 1888 that he completed this, and left the following reflections:

"I had by then never painted a portrait in the studio, because of the strange lighting and due to all the people disturbing me, but for my portrait, this could fit... It should be done in oils, and so I began trying. Of course, my vanity would portray me as a man capable of much more than painting, and suiting enough I was working on a bust of Emma in clay, so I let that lump of mud get in there as well.
Just before I sent it away to Florence I had to add a dab of red at my coat, - the "Legion of Honour Ribbon", this so eagerly longed for award, the same year as I was rewarded the gold medal at the World Fair."

This painting reflects, as does Zorn's own words, his professional pride as well as his joy over the social success he had reached. The bust of Emma, and the back of a stretched canvas seen in the background of the painting hints towards the man's occupation. The vast collection of sketches to this painting provides some information as to how he may have worked. Zorn was obsessed with the problem of getting a solid and harmonious composition.

Study for Self-portrait,, 1888

The lady asked me if I couldn't do the portrait in a landscape format instead, so that it would fit over her bed. I furiously asked her who the hell she thought I was, and if she were not aware of the fact that there was a photographer down the street, who would be more suitable for her than an artist she would only bother! I threw my palette into a corner and explained to her that if she wanted me, Zorn, to paint, she had to say yes or say no and immediately leave the room so I could go on with my work. Terrified, and with tears running down her cheeks she said yes and left the room.

Les Demoiselles Schwartz, 1889

My wife later promised them I would do something special for them, and she was right. Any piece of crap would be special to mutts like such people and I would give them a couple of hours, nothing more! Funnily enough, the painting was one of my most saluted at the world fair that year.“

He later added: "I never really made close and devoted friends with anyone in Paris after that event."

Zorn's professional pride thus drove him to opposition toward the upper class and their lack of social appreciation of an artist and his work. Whenever Zorn mentioned the lower class he spoke of the great mass of people who didn't understand better than to not appreciate a first class artist when they saw one. This aristocratic view, which preferred a social order based on knowledge and achievements, and not on irrelevant things such as social positions coming from heritage, also came to expression when he commented on the opposition's liberation from the Academy. Zorn meant, that they were; "preaching against any kind of tokens of favour, and only for the kind of recognition that their own work would give them. This institution, its inability and faults were retired at its young years".

Here he condemns the Academy, calling it a nest of incompetents, whilst at the same time revealing that he had been secretly offered a chair in the boards and a professorship there.