{"product_id":"anders-zorn-zorn-s-old-flame","title":"Anders Zorn - Zorn’s old flame","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAnders Zorn (1860–1920) Sweden\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eZorns flamma (\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003eZorn’s old flame\u003c\/span\u003e), Madrid, 1884\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003esigned \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eaf Zorn\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and dated \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMadrid 1884\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e lower margin\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ewatercolour and pencil on paper laid on cardboard panel\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eimage 21 × 13 cm (8.3 × 5.1 in)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003esheet 22 × 15 cm (8.7 × 5.9 in)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eframed 33 × 25.5 cm (13 × 10 in)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ehandmade oak frame with 92% UV protective glass \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProvenance:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eAn important private collection, Sweden\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition report:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe work is presented under 92% UV protective glass in a handmade oak frame. The sheet is laid on a board. The paper displays age related toning and minor irregularities consistent with its age and technique. The watercolour and pencil remain clearly legible and the principal passages of colour retain good definition. For a more detailed condition report, please contact the gallery.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEssay:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eExecuted in Madrid in 1884, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eZorns flamma\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e belongs to one of the most formative and adventurous periods in the early career of Anders Zorn. At only twenty four years of age, Zorn was already developing the extraordinary facility in watercolour that would establish his international reputation. Travel had become essential to his artistic education. Rather than remaining within the academic environment of Stockholm, he sought subjects, patrons and artistic experience abroad, moving through European cultural centres and absorbing impressions with remarkable speed.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSpain held particular importance for the young artist. Zorn travelled extensively during these years, and Madrid placed him in direct contact with a visual culture profoundly different from that of Sweden. The Spanish capital also offered access to the great masters of the Prado, while contemporary Spanish society provided him with new models and potential patrons. His surviving Spanish watercolours demonstrate his fascination with character, costume, brilliant light and the immediacy of observed life. A substantial \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePortrait of Cristina Morphy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, also dated 1884 and now in the Museo del Prado, bears witness to the level of ambition Zorn had already achieved in watercolour portraiture during his Madrid period.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eZorns flamma\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, however, presents an altogether different aspect of his art.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNothing here resembles the polished elegance expected of a commissioned society portrait. The woman emerges from the paper through an extraordinarily economical combination of pencil and transparent washes of brown, ochre and blue grey. Large areas remain scarcely worked. Zorn concentrates his attention almost obsessively upon the head, allowing the body to dissolve into abbreviated strokes and unfinished contours.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt is the face that makes the image so difficult to forget.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe cheeks are hollow, the neck attenuated and the eyes deeply set. The mouth opens slightly to reveal what appears to be a single prominent tooth. Her skin seems stretched tightly across the structure of the skull. At the same time, the elaborate arrangement of her hair or headwear rises dramatically above the face. The contrast is striking: something almost theatrical crowns a physiognomy rendered with uncompromising severity.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe result borders on the grotesque. Yet it would be misleading to treat the image simply as a caricature. Zorn's pencil searches the face repeatedly. Lines overlap around the eyes, forehead and mouth, while translucent colour reinforces rather than conceals the underlying drawing. The method gives the impression of an artist examining a human presence with unusual freedom, liberated from the conventions of formal portraiture.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe traditional title \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eZorns flamma\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, literally “Zorn’s old flame”, adds another layer of fascination. If understood in its colloquial Swedish sense, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eflamma\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e can refer to a sweetheart or romantic attachment. The title has consequently encouraged an interpretation of the sitter as a woman with whom Zorn had a personal relationship. At present, however, this identification should be treated with caution. The available research does not establish securely that the woman represented here was a former lover, nor has her identity been confirmed. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis distinction is particularly important in 1884. Zorn had met Emma Lamm in 1881 and their relationship belongs to the central biography of these years. The Madrid inscription therefore anchors the drawing in a very specific moment of his personal as well as artistic development, but the precise circumstances in which this remarkable sheet was created remain tantalisingly unresolved.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe work also reveals how radically different Zorn's private or informal studies could be from the virtuoso image of the artist familiar from his later international portraits. There is little concern here with beauty in a conventional sense. Instead, physiognomy itself becomes the subject. Age, exhaustion, eccentricity and bodily imperfection are allowed to dominate the image.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSeen retrospectively, the almost skeletal reduction of the woman's features can bring to mind the late self portraits of Helene Schjerfbeck. The comparison must remain purely visual. Schjerfbeck's most radical self portraits were produced many decades later and there is no suggestion of a direct connection between the works. Yet both artists could reduce a face until the boundary between portrait and memento mori becomes disturbingly narrow. In \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eZorns flamma\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, this effect is especially remarkable because it appears so early, in 1884, in the work of an artist subsequently celebrated for sensuality, physical vitality and dazzling technical assurance.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThere is also an intriguing contradiction between the apparent frailty of the sitter and the energy of Zorn's execution. The woman's body seems almost to disappear, yet the drawing itself is intensely alive. Pencil loops above the head, washes are placed rapidly across the clothing, and individual strokes remain visible as evidence of the artist's hand. What appears at first to be an image of physical exhaustion is therefore simultaneously a demonstration of youthful artistic confidence.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSources\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eZornmuseet, Mora, biographical and collection material concerning Anders Zorn and his European travels.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMuseo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, collection material relating to Anders Zorn and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePortrait of Cristina Morphy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, 1884.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnders Zorn, autobiographical writings and published biographical material concerning his travels during the 1880s.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSvenskt biografiskt lexikon, biographical material concerning Anders Zorn.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNationalmuseum, Stockholm, collection and biographical material concerning Anders Zorn.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eComparative literature and museum material concerning Helene Schjerfbeck's late self portraits.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CLASSICARTWORKS","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54859341201731,"sku":null,"price":103514.0,"currency_code":"SEK","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0115\/6005\/8976\/files\/B0009166.jpg?v=1790934405","url":"https:\/\/www.classicartworks.com\/products\/anders-zorn-zorn-s-old-flame","provider":"CLASSICARTWORKS","version":"1.0","type":"link"}