Tore Strindberg
The Sower – plaster statue by Tore Strindberg
Tore Strindberg
The Sower
Date : 1952
Dimensions : H : 32 cm ; L : 18,7 cm ; P : 10 cm
place of production: Stockholm
Material : Patinated plaster
Condition : Good condition - restorations
References : Signed plaster statue dated 1952. The bronze version is dated 1942
Conditions & disponibilité: available
500 €
Description
of work
Statuette in plaster by Tore Stridberg, signed and dated, depicting the sower in the parable from the Gospel of St Mark.
The Sower by Tore Strindberg is a statuette, the original of which was cast in bronze in 1943. The statuette is signed and dated in pencil by the artist on the base. The iconography of the work is the sower’s parabole found in the Gospel according to Saint Mark (Ma IV, 3-8) :
«Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop.
Still other seed fell on good soil, where it sprouted, grew up, and produced a crop—one bearing thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold.»
The original bronze has the inscription S. Marcus IV Kap. 14-20 and extracts from this gospel.
The work is monumental, realistic in its anatomy and cultivates a certain economy of means. However, the artist has preserved the traces of modelling, which show a certain roughness reminiscent of working the earth. The earth sown by the sower is represented as grainy on the base, in continuity with the man who seems to be at one with it. The power of the gesture suggested by the wide horizontal movement of the arm throwing the grain is counterbalanced by the verticality of the cloak, a simple pleated drape reminiscent of the fluting on ancient columns.The Antiquarian vocabulary is obvious, clearly demonstrating the work’s Neoclassical influence and its place in the Nordic Art Deco movement. The Hellenistic mantle, the body and the posture are reminiscent of Greek works in the severe or first classicist style, such as the pediment of the temple of Zeus in Olympia or the cape god Artemision, whose contemporary discovery in 1928 had a major influence on the art of the period. But the monumentality of the work is counterbalanced by the impression of fluidity that emanates from the movement of the sower.
«Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it sprouted, grew up, and produced a crop—one bearing thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold.»
Tore Strindberg
Stockholm (Sweden) 1882 - Stockholm (Sweden) 1968
Tore Strindberg, a Swedish sculptor and medallist, is best known for his bronze sculptures in the classical realist style of the 1920s and 1930s. He is an important representative of Art Deco sculpture in Sweden. Born in Stockholm, he studied at the city’s Academy of Fine Arts from 1902 to 1905. He trained with the famous medallist Adolf Lindberg at the Royal Mint in Stockholm, and soon showed great talent for creating medals and reliefs. Thanks to a grant, he travelled throughout Europe, particularly to Paris, where he immersed himself in the French style of the 16th century. This style captivated many Swedish artists of the time, and inspired both his poetry and his sculptures.
Tore Strinberg’s work began with a number of commissions in the religious field, as the years 1910-1920 saw a major movement to build churches in the modern style in Sweden. These included the decoration of the Åmots church in 1917 and the Hjorthagens kyrka (deer garden church) in the Hjorthagens district of Stockholm, for which he created a monumental altar and a large gilded bronze deer. But he was above all involved in decorating the great church project of the 1910s: the Engelbrektskyrkan in Stockholm. The church was a manifesto of the national romantic movement and Jugendstyl. Strindberg created stucco decorations that heralded his style. Monumentalism, geometric volumes but rough modelling underlined by highly expressive faces.
In 1925, Strindberg was commissioned to create a bronze sculpture of a young girl to adorn the garden of a wealthy Finn’s estate. This sculpture, ‘Crocus’, is one of Tore Strindberg’s most famous works. It is a bronze statue of a young girl holding a wilted crocus flower. Erected in 1925, it is considered to be one of his masterpieces and stands in Stockholm’s City Hall Square, with copies in Göteborg, Karlshamn and Borås. A replica can be seen in Los Angeles.
Another of his major achievements is the decoration of Järntorget square in Göteborg. This monumental fountain represents the five continents and symbolises the importance of the metal trade in the city’s history. The work consists of a granite fountain and a cast-iron fountain basin. Around the basin sit five women representing five continents: America with the Statue of Liberty in her hand, Asia in the lotus position, Australia riding a tortoise, Africa with a vase of water in her hands and Europe looking into a mirror.
Tore Strindberg also created jubilee medals for personalities such as Pierre de Coubertin and for the 1944 Olympic Games.
In addition to his artistic contributions, Tore Strindberg was deeply affected by a family tragedy when his brother, Nils Strindberg, a photographer, disappeared during the Andrée polar expedition in 1897. This expedition to the North Pole by hydrogen balloon from Svalbard ended tragically. The bodies of Nils and his companions were not found until 1930, on the island of Kvitøya. As a tribute to their memory, Tore Strindberg created a memorial for the victims. The monumental style is still present, but the iconography is abstract, and although it claims to represent a block of ice, it leaves the field open to geometric monumentalism.
Tore Strindberg’s artistic legacy continues to shine through his works, which are exhibited in museums in Sweden and abroad, as well as in monuments and public spaces in Sweden. His influence on the Swedish art scene of his time remains undeniable, as does his contribution to the history of Swedish art.
the work
in its context
Tore Strindberg’s Sower statuette is characteristic of the second part of the sculptor’s work, which began with the Krokus statue in the second half of the 1920s. The artist retained certain elements of his early works, such as monumentality and traces of modelling, but he made them more fluid and worked more on movement and expression, while simplifying his style, which became more geometric. This is part of the Swedish Grace movement, the artistic and architectural movement that emerged in Sweden at the end of the 1910s and lasted until the 1930s. This movement is characterised by an elegant and refined aesthetic, blending elements of neoclassicism, art deco and eighteenth-century Swedish influences.
Swedish Grace superseded Art Nouveau and the national Romanticism of the time. It is characterised by furniture and objects with clean lines and delicate details. The style was heavily influenced by ancient motifs and elements from different cultures, reflecting a period marked by major archaeological discoveries, notably that of Cape Artemision in 1928. But this style also employed a host of ancient motifs: from Greece, Rome, the Etruscans, Persia and ancient China, not to mention Egypt. It is this ancient decorative vocabulary that we find in the great sculptor of this movement who greatly inspired Strindberg: Carl Milles, whose main inspiration came from Greek mythology and ancient Greek art, particularly archaic or severe as in the case of Strindberg. The works of these two sculptors can also be seen in the grounds of Rottneros manor house, created by Svante Påhlson in 1932 as a tribute to the greatest contemporary Swedish sculptors.
sources
- Nationalmuseet – Stockholm – médailles et sculptures : https://collection.nationalmuseum.se/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=artist&objectId=9474&viewType=detailView
- Moderna Museet Stockholm : https://sis.modernamuseet.se/en/objects/4350/diana?ctx=a8948207298b9400a19bb808cd96e6ef7a92e958&idx=1
- Göteborgs konstmuseum
- Rottneros Park http://rottnerospark.se/
- Thielska Galleriet – Stokholm : https://thielska.zetcom.net/sv/collection/item/470/