Gudmar Olovson – From a personal perspective

Can you tell us a little about the casting?

The process from initial thought to a finished cast bronze is a long, slow, expensive, fascinating and symbiotic collaboration between different people. To cast a bronze sculpture two different techniques are used, either the so-called lost wax technique or sand casting.

The circle of craftsmen around the sculptor consists of, the plaster caster, the one who enlarges and reduces, the alchemist, the caster, the one who then knocks out the bronze, the chiseler and the patinator. Every technology and profession requires decades of education, if not generations. What forms the great community and success, I would say, is everyone's pursuit of perfection, discipline and a sense of responsibility, as well as a respect for tradition and craftsmanship.

In addition to the periods and phases that the sculptor needs to ensure his inner vision is at one with the finished result, each artisan needs their time to achieve the same.

A critical stage to mention here is the creation of editions. The work will be marked with signature, casting stamp, and edition according to a deontological code during the process. After many excessive editions at the beginning of the 20th century, in 1981, requirements were introduced in France that today apply within European law, i.e., limiting editions and introducing numbering. Today, if a work is to be called an original, the sculpture may be cast in eight copies + four pieces "Épreuve d'Artiste" EA (The artist's edition). So older sculptures from my father can have slightly larger editions, and sometimes smaller. Prior to 1981, it was up to the artist.

Gudmar Olovson From a personal perspective

Susanne Olovson, daughter of Gudmar Olovson, tells us about growing up in his studio and highlights a few of her favourites in the Online only auction.

How would you describe your father’s art?

– Always with the human in focus and often with an intense energy that invites us to reflect upon honesty, beauty and truth.

His inspiration can, first, be traced to ancient Roman and Greek sculptures. It then spans from that time's classic figurative creators to creators in the same spirit that he got to live with and learn with during his youth in Sweden, such as his own grandmother, the sculptor Lisa Pripp Ouchterlony and his teachers at the academy Stig Blomberg and Bror Hjort. And then, of course, the circle he came to live amongst in Paris.

Inspiration was also drawn from happy personal memories and insights, as well as from lessons learned from personal disappointments or injustices that others have suffered. For my Father, sculpture was about the expression of poetry through clay. His art is not about figuration, more interpreting the mood expressed by a body; the subtle hint in a facial expression and even the implicit message in a particular pose. The viewer is encouraged to explore how he refrains from ending certain extremities and instead brings out an unspoken feeling, free for us to interpret.

The final creation interweaves the four elements of nature; the clay he uses, the fire in which the work is cast, the water that purifies the metal and finally, the air the sculpture lives in.