Halsey Ives, who would head the Department of Fine Arts at the fair, had encountered indifference about it on the part of Swedes during a trip to Europe. Life in Paris was in those days so different from life in New York–men had no clubs and used the studios instead.' 3Īn influential trio of Americans in Paris encouraged Zorn to participate in theColumbian World Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair. We were at home on Saturday evenings if we were in Paris and there was never a Saturday that some interesting person did not walk in. We found the life there more than interesting because of these contacts. They were all living and working in Paris at the time. The work of Zorn, Frits Thaulow, Kröyer, and a number of others had been shown in nearly every exposition on the continent. ' 2Įlizabeth Alexander, wife of John White Alexander, wrote of Paris in the early 1890s: 'At the time Scandinavian painters were very much in the eye of the public. Even though Zorn was also linked to French artists Albert Besnard and Auguste Rodin, having joined them in the breakaway Salon du Champ de Mars after the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, he wrote in his memoirs, 'My countrymen and other Scandinavians, along with Americans, were the closest and the most sympathetic. Having lived in Paris for the previous five years, Zorn knew a number of expatriate American artists, including John White Alexander, Paul Wayland Bartlett, and Saint-Gaudens's protégé, Frederick MacMonnies. Four illustrated essays are accompanied by a chronology, selected bibliography, an exhibition checklist, and an index.Zorn probably met Saint-Gaudens in 1893 when he made his first trip to the United States to attend the Chicago World's Fair. This handsome volume provides a thorough introduction to the artist and his works, from portraiture to landscapes and his famous nudes. Although perhaps best known for his portraits, Zorn brought equal skill to painting genre scenes and views of nature. He became a favorite among wealthy American collectors, bankers, and industrialists who sat for him, including art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner and three U.S. Taking up residence in London and then in Paris, Zorn established himself as an international portrait painter, depicting fashionable clients in a style both elegant and relaxed.

Zorn is often compared with the artists John Singer Sargent and Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, contemporaries who also were known for their portraits of high-society figures. Renowned for his light, expressive watercolors, he attained mastery of the genre at an early age and later applied his techniques to oil painting. Anders Zorn (1860-1920) is one of Sweden's most accomplished and beloved artists. Accompanying a major retrospective of Anders Zorn's work, this is the first volume in English to explore the Swedish Impressionist's entire career in depth.

Anders Zorn by Hans Henrik Brummer