224 Rocks and Glaciers

SOLD
Winning Bid Undisclosed
This item SOLD at 2015 Apr 11 @ 14:54UTC-7 : PDT/MST
Category Western Americana
Auction Currency USD
Start Price NA
Estimated at 12,000.00 - 18,000.00 USD
Rocks and Glaciers
Artist: Sandzen, BirgerDate of Birth: 1871-1954
Medium: Oil on board
Dimensions: 14 x 16 inches
Signed: Signed lower right

Born in Sweden, Birger Sandzen studied there
with the highly influential artist Anders Zorn
before heading to France to continue his studies
in the studio of George Seurat. In France, Sandzen
absorbed the techniques of the Impressionists and
Postimpressionists, especially those regarding
color and paint application. Inspired by a book
about the struggles of Swedish immigrants in
Lindsborg, Kansas, Sandzen emigrated to the
United States in 1894. He settled in Lindsborg,
becoming a professor of art at Bethany College.
Sandzen traveled throughout the West, and,
inspired by the scenery, painted deeply textured
landscapes reminiscent of woodcutsÑa medium
at which he was a masterÑwith a rough hand hewn quality. Rocks and Glaciers has this woodcut ruggedness as well as the heavy, bright colors of the Postimpressionists. The ice and snow of the glacier flows down the mountainside like white lava, as if it has dropped from the sky. The work speaks to geological time: the upthrust of mountains and rocks, the great bulky glacial mass, and then tempers this with the green trees and swirling, changing clouds.