Sven Jonson

Background

Jonson was born in Söndrum, Halmstad, Sweden, on September 28, 1902, to a fisherman's family.

Education

Sven Jonson was fond of art since his childhood. In 1922 he took first steps to become a professional artist and the following year he formed the group De Unga (The Young), together with Esaias Thorén. The group held an exhibition in Halmstad in 1924. From 1925 to 1926 Jonson studied at Carl Wilhelmson's painting school in Stockholm.

Career

Jonson and Esaias Thorén, a Swedish painter and his fellow, went to Paris in the autumn of 1926. On their way, they visited Cologne where the monumental arches of the cathedral fascinated Sven Jonson. In Paris, they draw for Otte Sköld but still had difficulty supporting themselves and eventually returned to Halmstad in 1927.

Back in Halmstad Sven Jonson and Esaias Thorén opened Modern Reklam (Modern Advertising), a painting school with a studio which became a gathering place for the town´s artists, musicians and intellectuals.

In 1928, Jonson met Gösta Adrian-Nilsson, a Swedish artist and writer, who became an important influence for Jonson. Among other things, Sven Jonson painted a cubist series of sports motifs, including Häcklöpare (1929) and Bandyspelaren (The Bandy Player, 1930). In August 1929, Jonson formed the Halmstad Group in collaboration with Waldemar Lorentzon, Axel and Erik Olson, Esaias Thorén, and Stellan Mörner.

Towards the end of the 1920s, Sven Jonson created his works in a post-cubist style oriented towards purism. In 1930 he painted a number of compositions in concretist style, for example, Plangeometrisk komposition (Planar-Geometric Composition) 1930. Later that year, he participated in Otto G. Carlslund´s scandalous exhibition Art Concret in Stockholm.

In 1935 the Halmstad Group took part in the international exhibition Kubisme=Surrealisme held in Copenhagen. Sven Jonson's surrealism was characterised by desolate landscapes in bright yellow or brown tones, often with small human figures to exemplify the smallness of man in the universe. Architectural elements, arches, pillars, etc. with long shadows are all typical elements of Jonson's painting of this period.

Sven Jonson was struck by the coming world war; it was evident in his works from the latter part of the 1930s, for example in Ecce homo (1937) and Pathetic landscape (1937). During the 1940s, Jonson joined Söndrumskolonin (the Söndrum Colony), a grouping of artists in Halmstad´s coastal area. Among other members were DescriptionSven "X-et" Leonard Erixson, Felix Hatz and also members of the Halmstad Group.

In the early 1960s, Jonson painted labyrinthine cathedrals where, in part, he returned back to the cubism of the 1920s. During the last decade of Jonson's artistry, a blue colour scale dominated his artworks, often with motifs that reflected his interest in space, constellations and planets.

Achievements

• Sven Jonson was a highly respected artist of his time. He is best-known for such his works as The sunset, The blue hat, The Star, Harmoni, Portalerna, Ecce Homo, Solitude.
  
  Sven Jonson's work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from $40 USD to $113,107 USD. The current record price for this artist at auction is $113,107 USD for "Kors mot Blatt - Plankomposition 8 (Cross against blue - Composition 8)", sold at Christie's London in 2008.
  
  Jonson's artworks can be found at the National Museum and the Modern Museum in Stockholm, the Gothenburg Museum of Art, Malmö Museer, Skissernas Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, National Gallery in Oslo, etc.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Den ljusa natten

  • Morgon

  • The return

  • Den vaknade vidden

  • Nattligt Tema

  • Komposition med fönster

  • Southern harbor

  • Harmoni

  • Nattlig vision

  • Portalerna

  • Ecce Homo

  • Nattbild (Night)

  • Signs in the sky

  • Nattlig strand

  • Det döda skeppet

  • The Star

  • The sunset

  • Reliker

  • I väntan på vind

  • Solitude

  • Pråm på Seine

  • Månglitter

  • Figur i landskap IV

  • The blue hat

  • Stilleben med fisk

  • Composition

  • Gamla Österbro

  • Red evening

  • Poem

  • Nattlig komposition

  • Folsharpan

  • Figurkomposition

  • Höstmorgon

  • Vesper, Villa Kulla, Mahult

  • Komposition med hand