PRESS KIT

Anders Zorn September 2017

MASTER OF SWEDISH PAINTING

15 September - 17 December 2017
Tuesday-Sunday
IN F O R MA T I O N
10 am - 6 pm
Late opening - Friday until 9 pm
www.petitpalais.paris.fr

Anders Zorn, Summer Holidays, watercolour, 1886. Private collection © photo Hans Thorwid

This exhibition is in partnership with : With the exceptional contribution of the Bibliothèque nationale de France

This exhibition is supported by :

PR ES S O F F IC ER
Mathilde Beaujard
mathilde.beaujard@paris.fr
+33 1 53 43 40 14
 Anders Zorn, master of Swedish painting, 15 September - 17 December 2017

CONTENTS

Press release p. 3

Guide to the exhibition p. 4

Exhibition catalogue p. 8

Paris Musées, a network of Paris museums p. 11

About the Petit Palais p. 10

Practical information p. 11

Press officer
Mathilde Beaujard
mathilde.beaujard@paris.fr
Tel : 01 53 43 40 14

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 Anders Zorn, master of Swedish painting, 15 September - 17 December 2017

PRESS RELEA SE
Following up the Carl Larsson exhibition of 2014, the
Petit Palais is delighted to be presenting a large-scale
retrospective of the work of Anders Zorn (1860–1920),
Swedish painting’s other major figure. Although re-
cognised and admired in Paris in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries, Zorn has not been shown here
since…1906! Some 150 works will retrace the career of
a great artist: friend and rival of Sargent, Sorolla, Bol-
dini and Besnard, virtuoso watercolourist, talented oil
painter and brilliant etcher. This exhibition marks the
return of a master whose popularity in Scandinavia
has never flagged and who was fêted in San Francisco
and New York in 2013 and 2014.
Anders Zorn’s life was the stuff of a great novel: born into a poor
family, abandoned by his father, rising by sheer hard work to fame
and fortune. At 21, after training at the Royal Swedish Academy of
Fine Arts in Stockholm, he left his homeland to travel the length
and breadth of Europe: Spain first, then London, Paris, Turkey, Italy
and Greece, followed by North Africa and triumphal tours of the
United States. This cosmopolitan artist was quick to attract attention
Anders Zorn, Summer Holidays, watercolour, 1886.
with his large watercolours and the consummate skill he brought
Private collection © photo Hans Thorwid
to depicting water in portrayals of the Stockholm archipelago, the
North African coastline, the Venetian Lagoon, the port in Hamburg
and the waves of the Atlantic. In capturing water’s endless movement he knew no equal. During his many
stays in Paris Zorn alternated watercolour and oil painting, specialising in portraits whose refinement and
sophistication were much appreciated by his clients. His innate sense of framing and mastery of light made
each painting an elegant tour de force. In the United States his success was phenomenal, as presidents,
politicians, bankers and industrial magnates vied for the privilege of having him paint their portraits. In a
few short years he became one of the most respected and sought-after painters in USA of course but also
in Europe. Multi-talented, he was also a superb etcher, much indebted to Rembrandt, whose engravings he
collected.
Late in the 19th century Zorn and his wife moved to Mora, in Sweden, where his house-studio remains a
tourist attraction today. In his painting he celebrated his country’s natural environment and vernacular tra-
ditions: his Midsummer Dance, an outright declaration of love for his native region of Dalarna and its long
summer nights, has become a Swedish art history classic.
The exhibition’s layout and scenography will conjure up this many-faceted life with very different ambiences
and enlargements of photographs of the artist, most of them never shown before. This is a chance to see
the finest works from the Zorn Museum in Mora and the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, both of which are
partners in this project. The presentation is rounded off by major loans from other Scandinavian and French
museums.

CU RA TO RS
Johan Cederlund: director, Zornmuseet, Mora
Carl-Johan Olsson: curator, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
Christophe Leribault: director, Petit Palais
Dominique Morel: chief curator, Petit Palais

#SAISONSUEDOISE2017
ART / DESIGN / INNOVATION
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 Anders Zorn, master of Swedish painting, 15 September - 17 December 2017

GUIDE TO THE EX HIBITION

Beginnings: between Sweden Spain and London

Zorn was born into modest circumstances. He spent his childwood in

Mora, a town in extremely rural Dalecarlia, central Sweden. His skill in
drawing and sculpture did not however, go unoticed, and at fifteen, he
was sent to the Royal Academy of Arts in Stockholm. Clashing with the
director, he withdrew in 1881 and left to study aborad in Spain, by way of
Paris and London. ‘Here, the weather is hot and sunny, the girls pretty
and the beggars picturesque. A veritable painter’s paradise,’ he wrote.
In autumn of 1882, he moved to London’s fashionable Mayfair district.
There, he quickly developed a reputation as an excellent portraitist,
receiving many commissions. In 1885, he returned to Sweden to marry
Emma Lamm, a wealthy young woman from Stockholm’s upper class to
whom he had secretly become engaged in 1881. This ensured the young
man’s finances were sufficiently stable to support a household, especially
as the social position of his in-laws brought him a new clientele.
Anders Zorn, Selfportrait, oil on canvas,
1896. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Swe-
den © Photo Nationalmuseum The major watercolours: ripples on water from Istanbul to Saint Ives

From the first, Zorn was recognized as a first-rate watercolourist. In

1880, he exhibited his watercolour In Mourning to universal acclaim.
From the Swedish painter Egron Lundgren (1815-1875), he learned all the
possibilities offered by water-based paint, from the lightest of washes
to the most opaque applications that betray no trace of the white paper
beneath. Zorn’s watercolours, often monumental in size, bear witness to
a well-travelled painter ticking off cities along the way North, South, East
and West: Constantinople, Algiers, Saint Ives in Cornwall and Hamburg,
to say nothing of Venice with its lagoon or the Stockholm archipelago. In
his views of ports and marinas, Zorn excels in rendering the movement
of water, he called it ‘putting the waves and ripples into perspective’.
Often, figures hold strictly symbolic roles, and exist only to emphasise
the beauty of the liquid element.

Anders Zorn, In Alhambra Park, waterco-

lor, 1887. Zorn Museum, Mora, Sweden
© Photo Lars Berglund

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 Anders Zorn, master of Swedish painting, 15 September - 17 December 2017

The parisian decade

In 1888, Zorn took up residence in Paris to paint portraits of banker Er-

nest May and his children. Through his client, he met the main figures
of the era in politics and art, including Antonin Proust, Armand Dayot,
the dancer Rosita Mauri, the younger Coquelin, an actor, all future
clients and friends. That same year, the State purchased A Fisherman,
St. Ives, which he had just exhibited at the Salon, for the Luxembourg.
Zorn initially set up shop on the rue Daubigny, but moved to a more per-
manent location on the Boulevard de Clichy. He sent seven works to the
Exposition Universelle in 1889. Shorty after, he was made a Chevalier of
the Légion d’Honneur. In 1890, Zorn was inducted as a foreign member
of the Société nationale des beaux-arts. Meanwhilde, he exhibited in
private galleries with dealers Georges Petit and Durand-Ruel. He was a
sensation at the Salon of 1891, with no less than 12 works accepted. At the
next year’s Salon, he presented a painting entitled Omnibus that earned
him the epithet ‘revolutionary’, and in 1893 was compelled to withdraw
his Vénus de La Villette, considered shocking, from the show. In 1895,
Zorn participated with his friends Rodin, Whistler, Besnard and Thau-
low in the first ever Salon de l’Art Nouveau at the Galerie Bing. In under
Anders Zorn, Night Effect, oil on canvas, 1895. a decade, Zorn had become a highly visible figure of the Parisian arts
© Göteborg Konstmuseum, Sweden. scene, with which he would always remain in contact.

The society portraits

Along with Sargent, Carolus-Duran and Boldini, Zorn was one of the
most brilliant portraitists of the late 19th century. His instinctive, sponta-
neous technique owes a great deal to his work in watercolours. Foregoing
an initial sketch of the composition, he used heavily diluted colours
applied with light, quick brushwork. Rather than work in his studio,
he preferred to paint his patrons in their homes to better capture the
character and psychology of each of his models. Décor and accesso-
ries play an important role in depicting and distinguishing the subject
represented. A large number of Zorn’s portraits were produced in the
United States during the seven trips he undertook to the New World.
Bankers, tycoons, politicians - including three US presidents - all were
prepared to pay colossal sums to have their physiognomy immortalised
by Zorn. While he mingled with international high society, Anders Zorn
carried with him his modest upbringing. ‘Zorn still remains a peasant
with muscular arms that can clasp raw reality’, remarked one critic.
Anders Zorn, Portrait of Elizabeth Sherman
Cameron, oil on canvas, 1900. © Private
collection / Photo Courtesy Atheneum

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 Anders Zorn, master of Swedish painting, 15 September - 17 December 2017

A successful printmaker

While in London in 1882, Zorn met fellow countryman Axel Herman

Haig, who introduced him to printmaking. Following his arrival in Pa-
ris in 1888, he regularly exhibited at the Société des peintres-graveurs
(Association of painter-printmakers), which played a crucial role in the
revival of innovative etching. The show organised in 1906 at the Ga-
lerie Durand-Ruel definitively established Zorn as a master printma-
ker. In all, Zorn’s printed oeuvre comprises 288 works, largely portraits
and nudes. Zorn was a swift, strong engraver, slashing the plate with
diagonal cuts. The portrait of Marcellin Berthelot is said to have been
completed in less than 20 minutes, and the preparatory drawing for the
portrait of ernest Renan in under an hour. Among the influences that
can be seen in his work, that of Rembrandt - whose prints he collected
- is the most obvious. He shares the Dutch master’s taste for sketching
and improvisation, contrasts of shadow and light and often depicted
himself. Also, like Manet, another member exhibiting at the Société des
peintres-graveurs, he frequently produced prints based on his painted
Anders Zorn, Hersmaid, oil on canvas, 1908.
Zorn museum, Mora, Sweden
compositions, sometimes modifying and adapting them.
© Photo Patric Evinger

Zorn at the French National Library

The famed cabinetmaker and antiques dealer Alfred Beurdeley (1847-

1919) was an early admirer and collector of Zorn. Indeed, he commis-
sioned the artist to paint his portrait. In 1906, he chaired the exhibi-
tion committee for the Zorn exhibition at the Galerie Durand-Ruel.
Following the exhibition, he gifted 99 prints by the artist to the Biblio-
thèque Nationale. That same day, Zorn himself offered them 40 prints.
In 1943, these were joined by the 68 pieces from the Curtis Collection.
American by birth, but residing in France since 1904, Atherton Curtis
(1863-1943) bequeathed his collection to the national library in his will.
Anders Zorn, Emma Zorn reading, oil on canvas,
1887, Zorn museum, Mora, Sweden © DR
He possessed a handsome set of works from Zorn’s printed oeuvre, in-
cluding portraits of Renan, Anatole France, King Gustave V of Sweden
and a series of bathers. In all, 212 of the 288 prints produced by Zorn
identified by Karl Asplund and figuring in the catalogue published in
1920 are held at the French National Library, making it one of the most
complete reference collections, as the artist’s plates were printed in
small editions, each print carefull signed by the artist.

Scenography by AT ELIER MA CIEJ FISZER

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 Anders Zorn, master of Swedish painting, 15 September - 17 December 2017

Traditional Sweden

In 1896, Zorn and his wife left Paris to settle back in Mora. Located in
the Dalecarlia province on the banks of Lake Siljan, Mora was a village
at the time, though it had been the backdrop to a number of historic
events that brought the Swedish state together. It was in its hills that the
16th century king Gustave Vasa sought refuge before seeking to retake his
country. Zorn appreciated the opportunity to enjoy a simple and ear-
nest life close to nature in Mora, and in Gopsmor, some twenty kilome-
ters away, at another wooden home, more isolated than his handsome
townhouse in Mora, destined to later become a museum. In fact, he
progressively bought up a number of old buildings along the lakeshore
that became an outdoor museum dedicated to rural life. A number of
his paintings are drawn from day-to-day existence - the cowherd in the
forest, the fiddler, or the women of Mora attending to their tasks. The
painting he was perhaps most proud of Midsummer Dance (1897) is
not only a declaration of his love for Dalecarlia and its bright summer
Anders Zorn, Midsummer Dance, oil on can- nights, it has also become a classic in the history of Swedish Art.
vas, 1901. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Swe-
den © Photo Nationalmuseum

Nudes and bathers

In the late 1880s, Zorn began a cycle of paintings on the theme of ou-
tdoor nudes. Without mockery, disguise or any mythological pretext, he
represented naked woman bathing in the vast Stockholm archipelago. It
was an opportunity to study at his leisure the effects of light on the hu-
man body. Zorn’s nudes have sometimes been compared to those of Re-
noir, who had exhibited his Grandes Baigneuses at the Galerie Geoges
Petit in 1887, perhaps inciting Zorn to paint his first nudes the following
year. ‘Zorn’s models are forceful, but they are also women, women in the
quality of their flesh, like Renoir’s women, but longer-limbed and more
elgantly athletic’, wrote Henri Focillon in 1922. At the end of his life, Zorn
produced an avalanche of nudes, both drawings and prints, a frenetic
quest of the erotic. Here, the accent is less on location and atmosphere
than on the exposed skin of naked bodies. The painter’s extensive use
of photographic stills and consequent enslavement to reality somewhat
explains this shift in perspective.

Anders Zorn, Reflects, oil on canvas, 1889. Pri-

vate collection, Geneva, Switzerland

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 Anders Zorn, master of Swedish painting, 15 September - 17 December 2017

EX HIBITION CA TA LOGUE

A central figure of Swedish painting at the turn of the twentieth centu-

ry, Anders Zorn (1860-1920) was immensely famous as a portraitist and
engraver. Along with Sargent, Sorolla, Boldini and Besnard, he is one of
the most representative artists of a modern and virtuoso international
style, where powerful brushwork combines with bold compositions and
lighting. He forged his style through productive encounters and stays in
foreign countries:, including London (1882-1885), Paris (1888-1896) – where
he quickly became a success and met well-known celebrities, such as
Auguste Rodin, Coquelin the Younger, Ernest Renan, Paul Verlaine, Mar-
cellin Berthelot and Jean-Baptiste Faure – and starting in 1893, the United
States, where his career as a society portraitist intensified. He also trave-
led to Constantinople, Algiers, Spain and Italy, places he captured in ma-
gnificent watercolors. However, Zorn did not forget Dalecarlia, the region
of his birth, which was the inspiration for paintings of the traditional life
there. He also dedicated the last part of his work to the theme of women
bathers that combined landscapes and full-bodied nudes.

With over two hundred reproductions and unpublished essays, this work
pays tribute to an elegant and talented artist.

Anders Zorn, le maître de la peinture suédoise (Anders Zorn, the Master

of Swedish Painting)
Texts by Johan Cederlund, James Ganz, Christophe Leribault,
Carl-Johan Olsson and Vibeke Röstorp

Éditions Paris Musées

Format: 22 x 28 cm
Pagination: 240 pages
Finishing: paperback
Illustrations: 180 illustrations
Price (incl. tax): 35 euros

Paris Musées is a publisher of art books and makes available some thirty volumes per year, including exhibi-
tion catalogs, guides to the collections and small publications. These beautiful books are worthy testimonials
to the wealth of the City of Paris museums and the diversity of temporary exhibitions.
www.parismusees.paris.fr

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 Anders Zorn, master of Swedish painting, 15 September - 17 December 2017

PA RIS MUSÉES
A NETW ORK OF PA RIS MUSEUMS
Under the aegis of the Établissement public Paris Musées, the fourteen museums of the city of Paris contain
collections of exceptional diversity and quality: fine arts, modern art, decorative arts, Asian arts, history,
literature, archaeology, fashion – they cover a huge number of fields and reflect the cultural diversity of the
capital of France and its rich history.
In an important gesture of outreach and an urge to share this fabulous heritage, admission to the permanent
collections was made free of charge in 2001*. This has been completed by new policies for welcoming visitors,
and more suitable admission charges for temporary exhibitions; particular attention is also now being paid
to a public deprived of cultural amenities. The permanent collections and temporary exhibitions therefore
include a varied programme of cultural activities.
In addition to this, developments in the frequentation of the museums are being accompanied by a policy of
seeking a more diverse public. Paris Musées, in partnership with people working in the social sectors of the
greater Paris area, is consolidating and developing activities for a public unfamiliar with museums. In 2014,
more than 8000 people took advantage of these activities in the museums of the city of Paris. Our outreach
extends to the Internet, with a website giving access to the complete programme of museum
activities and to online details of the collections, so that people can prepare their visit.
www.parismusees.paris.fr

This breakdown of visitor numbers confirms the success of the museums:

Visits: 3 010 000 visitors in 2016
Temporary exhibitions: 1 650 000 visitors
Permanent collections: 1 360 000 visitors

*Except for establishments charging an admission fee for temporary exhibitions as part of the visit to their
permanent collections (the archaeological Crypt under the forecourt of l’île de la Cité and the Catacombs).
The Palais Galliera collections are only shown during temporary exhibitions.

PA RIS MUSÉ ES CA RD
FOR EX HIBITIONS A T Y OUR OW N PA CE!

A card can be bought from Paris Musées, which gives unlimited access, ahead of the queue, to the temporary
exhibitions in all 14 of the museums of Paris*, as well as special tariffs for activities. It entitles the holder
to reductions in the bookshop-boutiques and the cafe-restaurants, and to receive prior information about
events in the museums. In 2014, the card was bought by 9000 people.
Information is available at the Museum ticket offices or via the site:
www.parismusees.paris.fr
*Except the archaeological Crypt under the forecourt of l’île de la Cité and the Catacombs.
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 Anders Zorn, master of Swedish painting, 15 September - 17 December 2017

A BOUT THE PETIT PA LA IS

Built for the Exposition Universelle de 1900, the Petit Palais building is a
masterpiece by architect Charles Girault. In 1902, it became the City of Paris
Museum of Fine Arts and presents a very beautiful collection of paintings,
sculptures, furnishings and art objects dating from Antiquity to 1914.

Among the museum treasures are an exceptional collection of Greek vases

and a very large group of Flemish and Dutch paintings from the seventeenth
century, displayed around the famous Self-Portrait with Dog by Rembrandt.
A magnificent collection of French paintings from the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries includes major works by Fragonard, Greuze, David,
Géricault, Delacroix, Courbet, Pissarro, Monet, Sisley, Cézanne and Vuillard.
The museum is also very proud of a very beautiful collection of sculptures by
Petit Palais, Paris Museum of Fine
Carpeaux, Carriès and Dalou. The collection of decorative art is especially
Arts © C. Fouin noted for objects from the Renaissance and the 1900s, including glasswork by
Gallé, jewelry by Fouquet and Lalique and a dining room designed by Guimard
for his private mansion. Finally, the museum has an outstanding graphic arts
room featuring complete series of engravings by Dürer, Rembrandt and Callot
and a rare collection of Nordic drawings.

Since 2015, the collection presentation has been extensively reworked. It has
been enriched by two new galleries on the garden floor level, one of which
is dedicated to the Romantic period. In one gallery, restored large-format
paintings by Delaroche and Schnetz are surrounded by works of artists such
as Ingres, Géricault and Delacroix. In the second gallery, decorative paintings
by Maurice Denis are interspersed with works by Cézanne, Bonnard, Maillol
and Vallotton. In the fall of 2017, the collection of icons and Eastern Orthodox
arts, which is the largest one in France, will benefit from a new museographic
presentation. An area will also be dedicated to sketches of the major
nineteenth-century Parisian settings. Early in 2018, these new presentations
Petit Palais, Paris Museum of Fine will be complemented in the North Gallery by collections of monumental
Arts © B. Fougeirol sculptures from the nineteenth century.

The program of temporary exhibitions at the Petit Palais alternates ambitious

major subjects like Paris 1900, Baccarat, Les Bas-fonds du Baroque (Baroque
Slums) and Oscar Wilde with monographs that allow rediscovering forgotten
painters such as Albert Besnard or George Desvallières. Since 2015,
contemporary artists (Thomas Lerooy in 2015, Kehinde Wiley in 2016, Andres
Serrano in 2017) have been invited to exhibit in the Petit Palais permanent
collections in order to create a dialog with these paintings and reveal links
between their works and those of the museum.

A café-restaurant opening on the interior garden and a new bookstore-boutique

on the ground floor of the museum round out the services available to visitors.

Petit Palais, Paris Museum of Fine The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. except on Monday.
Arts © B. Fougeirol Open on Friday until 9 p.m. for the temporary exhibitions.
petitpalais.paris.fr
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 Anders Zorn, master of Swedish painting, 15 September - 17 December 2017

PRA CTICA L INFORMA TION

Anders Zorn
Master of Swedish painting

15 September - 17 December 2017

OPENING HOURS PETIT PA LA IS

Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris
Late opening Friday until 9:00 pm. Avenue Winston Churchill - 75008 Paris
Closed on Mondays Tel: + 33 1 53 43 40 00
Accessible to handicapped persons.
A DMISSION CHA RGES
Free entry to the permanent collections TRA NSPORT
Charges for temporary exhibitions: Metro stations
Full price: 11 euros Champs-Élysées Clemenceau
Reduced price: 9 euros Invalides
Bus : 28, 42, 72, 73, 83, 93
COMBINED TICKET
The combined ticket gives access to the exhibitions
Anders Zorn and The Art of Pastel. Café Restaurant ‘Le Jardin du Petit Palais’
Full price: 15 euros Open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Reduced price: 13 euros
Bookshop-Boutique
Free up to and including age 17 Open from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm

MEDIA RELA TIONS

Mathilde Beaujard
Tél : +33 1 53 43 40 14
mathilde.beaujard@paris.fr

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