Carl Larsson
"Min äldsta dotter" / "Suzanne med mjölk och bok" (My eldest daughter)
Signed C.L. within a circle and dated 1904. Watercolour 46.5 x 39 cm. Original picture frame. Letter from the artist to the original buyer included. The motif was also executed as an etching, "Suzanne vid boken", in 1912 (AR no. 89, H&H no. 94, Neergaard no. 1495).
Provenance
Ed. Schulte's Kunstsalon, Berlin.
Private collection, USA (acquired through Schulte's Kunstsalon, Berlin for 1.200 Mark, according to preserved invoice [Uppsala University Library] dated 19 January 1905).
Architect J. R. Neumann, Johanneshov (Stockholm).
Bukowski auktioner, Stockholm, Sale 469, "Internationella Höstauktionen", 31 Oct - 3 Nov 1989, lot 313.
Christie's, London, "Scandinavian Pictures, Drawings, Prints and Sculpture", 29 March 1990, lot 299 (bought in).
International private collection (acquired at the above through after sale).
Private collection, London.
Exhibitions
Ed. Schultes Kunstsalon, Berlin, 1904 (under the title "Meine Älteste").
VI. Esposizione Internationale D'Arte della citta di Venezia, Sala Svedese, Venice, 1905, no. 9 (under the title "Mia figlia maggiore").
Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, "Carl Larsson. Minnesutställning", exhibition arranged in collaboration with Nationalmuseum, 1953, no. 237 (under the title "Äldsta dottern").
Literature
Karl M. Kuzmany, 'VI. Internationalen Kunstausstellung der Stadt Venedig', article in "Kunst", No. 11, 1905, illustrated in the shape of a black and white reproduction, p. 474.
Cecilia Lengefeld, "Der Maler des glücklichen Heims. Zur Rezeption Carl Larssons im wilhelminischen Deutschland", 1993, catalogued p. 123 as well as mentioned and illustrated full page in colour, p. 118.
Ulwa Neergaard, "Carl Larsson. Signerat med pensel och penna", 1999, illustrated half page in colour, p. 316 and catalogued under year 1904, p. 94, no. 1098.
More information
Depicted is the artist's eldest daughter Suzanne, age 20, seated in the dining-room at Lilla Hyttnäs, Larsson's home at Sundborn, in Darlecarlia. Behind her, on the door, is a portrait of her sister Brita which Larsson painted in 1900.
Designer
Carl Larsson is considered one of the greatest Swedish artists of all time. He was born in Gamla Stan in Stockholm and studied at the Royal Academy of Arts in the years 1866-76. After his studies in Stockholm, he traveled to France and settled in Grèz-sur-Loing. There he mainly painted garden motifs. In France, he met his future wife Karin Bergöö, who was also an artist and came to mean a lot for his artistry. Already during his student years, he made a living as a photo retoucher and cartoonist in the press. It was also during his studies that Larsson got to know Anders Zorn and Bruno Liljefors, together the three are usually called the ABC artists. At the end of the 1880s, Carl and Karin were given "Lilla Hyttnäs" in Sundborn outside Falun by Karin's father, and this is where Larsson's most famous watercolors depicting his family were created. The motifs often depict sunny landscapes with children, crayfish fishing, meals in the green and interior scenes. Larsson is represented, among other, in the National Museum, where "Gustav Vasas intåg i Stockholm" and "Midvinterblot" fills the stairwell. Represented mainly at the National Museum in Stockholm and at the Gothenburg Art Museum.
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