Collection

Bengt Olson and his fellow artists in paris

Lots sold at Uppsala Auktionskammare’s Important Sale: Modern & Contemporary 19-20 May 2021

The Swedish painter and sculptor Bengt Olson was born 1930 in the small town Kristinehamn by the lake Vänern in the county of Värmland. Growing up with a father with artistic ambitions, Bengt became aware of painting and art at an early age. He was determined to study art and was accepted to Valands målarskola in Gothenburg where he studied for Endre Nemes 1948-52 and continued his studies in Paris as a student to Fernand Léger. Bengt had always dreamt of Paris and to become a part of the artistic life in the city. During the 1950s, he sojourned in Paris several times and in 1960 he settled down permanently, until 2018 when he returned to Gothenburg and Sweden.

During the stay in Paris he met with a lot of famous artists at that time, such as Marcel Pouget, André Marfaing, Bram Bogart, Yasse Tabuchi, Bengt Lindström and the artists whose works are included in this sale. He also became a good friend of Daniel Gervis, who worked for Galerie Maeght and later at Galerie Beno d’Incelli. Daniel Gervis had his own ambitions to become a gallery owner and with the help of Bengt, it became a reality in 1967 at the former premises of Galerie Karl Flinker at Rue du Bac. From that day this was the gallery Bengt was connected to in Paris and France, whilst in Sweden, he organized his own exhibitions. Daniel and Bengt initiated the famous art fair FIAC (Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain) at Grand Palais in Paris 1975.

By coincident Bengt met the Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar, who collaborated with Pablo Picasso and executed reliefs and sculptures of sand blasted concrete. Their meeting resulted in that Bengt was able to arrange for Nesjar to construct the world’s largest sculpture by Picasso in his hometown, Kristinehamn. The sculpture ”Jacqueline” after a maquette by Picasso, raises 15 meters high on the shore of Lake Vänern. The technique, using sand blasted concrete armoured with natural stones, became a trademark for Bengt in many of his monumental sculptures that he executed in Paris and its surroundings, commissioned by the French state.

Bengt Olson has been frequently exhibited in Sweden, France, Europe and the rest of the world, during his whole career. In 2002 Musée Maillol in Paris held an extensive retrospective exhibition called ”Dans la lumière du Nord”.

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