New Season, New Masterpieces – Anders Zorn "Bräcklig spång"
In “Bräcklig Spång” from 1908, Anders Zorn depicts two young women in a forest clearing at Gopsmor. The scene is framed by lush vegetation, with dense spruce branches almost obscuring the view. The light, known as the “Gopsmor light”, falls upon the young woman who carefully balances her way across a narrow footbridge.
The movement is skilfully captured, and as viewers we can sense the model’s concentration as she makes her way, step by step, across the dark watercourse. Her face is in shadow as she stretches out her arms towards a few slender branches for support. The master Zorn allows the light to play across the young model’s skin, which seems to shimmer as she moves. The composition is structured around a diagonal which, via the narrow footbridge, leads towards the second woman, positioned in the foreground like a quiet forest spirit. Like exclamation marks amid the greenery, the red woollen ribbons worn in the hair of the Dalecarlian women illuminate the scene.
When it came to locations for Anders Zorn’s recurring theme of nudes amidst greenery, Gopsmor and the archipelago were, at times, rivals. For a long time, Zorn had searched for a place where he could work in complete peace. He imagined a small log cabin beside the river, where he could see the water and hear the roar of the rapids. He found such a place at Gopsberget in Dalarna, where tall pines and magnificent spruces formed the setting for his “open-air studio”. A small clear stream and the Dalälven river nearby completed his dream of an ideal, secluded location. Gerda Boëthius has described the inspired choice of location:
“It is not merely that nature offers such rich variety within a relatively limited area; the whole character of the landscape is such that it provides an endless variation of lighting, highlights and colours. The surface of the river can display every colour from yellow-brown to clear blue, while reflections from the water affect the colours and light in the forest and meadows.”
Life in Gopsmor was primitive and the diet simple. Although some of Zorn’s guests in Gopsmor found the conditions somewhat too spartan, there can be no doubt that his stays there had a beneficial effect on Zorn’s creativity and inspiration. Zorn always worked diligently in Gopsmor; it was as though an extra enthusiasm and joy in his work came over him as soon as he managed to make his way out to the secluded studio. It is therefore hardly surprising that several of the artist’s best-known paintings were created there.
Zorn often worked with a camera and photographs as references for his paintings. In “Bräcklig Spång”, the focus and shimmering light fall upon the model at the centre of the composition. The foreground, with its dense spruce branches, is painted in more subdued tones, while the seated model seems to merge with the surrounding nature. The models were the Mjöberg sisters, who also posed for Zorn’s painting “Hindar” from the same year, 1908. Photographs from the making of “Hindar” have been preserved. The sisters also posed for the bronze fountain sculpture “Morgonbad”, created in 1908–1909, which can be found in the garden of Zorngården as well as in Rosenbadsparken in Stockholm.
Gerda Boëthius described the paintings “Bräcklig Spång” and “Hindar”, both from 1908, as major works within the artist’s oeuvre from this period. “He poured his soul into every brushstroke as he painted the spires of the tree trunks, the branches and the beautiful, soft female bodies” (“ZORN. Tecknaren, Målaren, Etsaren, Skulptören”, 1949).
In “Bräcklig Spång”, Zorn fully deploys every nuance available on his artistic palette, conveying the work’s collective grandeur in a fleeting moment. In his beloved native Dalarna, the artist found a timeless subject that allowed him to explore different painterly qualities with great success. Through an intricate and carefully balanced interplay of lines, combined with lush, verdant and light-filled plein-air painting, Zorn presents the young Dalecarlian women in a quiet celebration of the freedom of youth and the sublime beauty of nature.
Estimate: 5 000 000 - 7 000 000 SEK
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