Sigrid Hjertén
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"Kalkstensklippan, St Aubin"
Signed Hjertén. Exected in 1921. Panel 38 x 46 cm.
Provenance
Bukowski Auctions, Modern Art + Design 624, June 16, 2020, lot 373.
Exhibitions
Skånska konstmuseum, Lund, Separatutställning, 1938.
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 1949
Riksförbundet för bildande konst, exhibition no 67.
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, "Sigrid Hjertén - En retrospektiv utställning av målningar", April - May, 1964, cat no 48.
Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, "Sigrid Hjertén", 1995, cat no 46.
Blaafarveværket, Aamot, "Det söte liv - Kolorister i nord 1910-20", 11 May - 30 September 1996.
Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm, "Sigrid Hjertén - en mästerlig kolorist", 10 February - 26 August 2018, cat no 58.
Literature
Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, exhibition catalogue, "Sigrid Hjertén - 17 mars - 28 maj", 1995, ill. in black and white p. 20, mentioned p. 21, plate 46.
Anders Wahlgren, "Sigrid Hjertén - en av Sveriges främsta konstnärer", Norstedts, 2008, illustrated p. 120.
Görel Cavalli-Björkman, "Kvinna i avantgardet. Sigrid Hjertén. Liv och verk", Albert Bonniers förlag, 2017, mentioned p. 282, ill. p. 286.
Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm, "Sigrid Hjertén - en mästerlig kolorist", 10 February - 26 August 2018, cat no 58, illustrated p. 86.
More information
In 1921 Sigrid Hjertén painted the dramatic rocky coast of Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer in Normandie for the first time, a motif she will return to several times in the future. The family Hjertén/Grünewald had returned to Paris after almost 10 years in Sweden in 1920. Hjertén often took trips away from the turbulence of the city in chase of inspiration and motifs to the small villages and coastal towns. In the 1910s she had mainly painted portraits of family members and her son Iván in their home and now sought other motifs, both in the city and in nature. The work in focus “Kalkstensklippan, St Aubin” shows the large cliffs of Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer. A storm is approaching. The hundred-meter-high chalk cliffs plunge straight into the water. At ebb, elongated beaches are formed along the coast. Hjertén is taken by the monumental cliffs and she returns to this motif several times in her life. The colors are attenuated and she lets the harsh summer light reflect on the white cliff against a darker sky. A bright horizon contrasts with black sailboats and two small figures collecting mussels at shore.