In the service of the Art – a Contemporary Collection

Bukowskis are proud to present a private collection of art acquired over the course of 40 years. The pieces in the collection form a timeline that runs parallel with the Stockholm art scene of the same period. The collector worked at Galerie Aronowitsch and her son has contributed a text that movingly summarises his mother’s interest in art and collecting. This specialist sale contains approximately 100 pieces and finishes on Sunday the 5th of May.

“Galerie Aronowitsch was for many decades one of Sweden’s most highly rated galleries. Important international artists were boldly alternated with young Swedish ones fresh out of art school. Quality and dynamism were the constant values. With a slight preference for Abstract/ Constructivist art the gallery became a meeting place where several generations of formal experimentalists and other colourful characters met.

My mother, Margareta Abrahamsson, worked together with William Aronowitsch for 40 years, and the gallery formed, in many ways, another room in the mosaic of my childhood. It was a productive place to develop and gave me a fascinating insight into the psyche of the artist and the art world.

Of course, my mother collected art. Some favourite pieces were purchased, but many were generous gifts from artists represented by the gallery. Even if she wasn’t a manic collector there was always that bit of intense satisfaction that came from being able to rehang at home, and from being able to choose from so many fantastic pieces. Perhaps it was like bringing work home, in this case work being her love of art. Both William Aronowitsch and my mother passed away in 2018, and with them disappeared a tangible, physical connection to a place that went beyond the notions of ‘exhibitions’ or ‘sales’. No matter if the gallery was at Karlavägen, Strandvägen or Sturegatan its character remained the same: an open-minded space for everything from Russian Constructivists to Swedish ‘neo-Duchampian’ experiments.

Some favourite pieces from my mother’s collection I could never let go off. The majority, however, shall be passed on. Art is not static nor should collections ever be. These beautiful pieces from an undoubtedly colourful group of artists will now come to adorn other walls than those of my childhood home on Floragatan. Life goes on. So does art.”

Carl Abrahamsson, Stockholm, April 2019