Description
Book SynopsisThis “painter’s painter” constantly explored the variety of American modernist art, inspired by many locations and artistic styles
B. J. O. Nordfeldt was described by a Minneapolis art critic in 1935 as a “painter’s painter,” and his prolific career evinced constant experimentation with subjects, genres, and media of modernist art. The Swedish emigrant lived throughout the world—from his early training and teaching in Chicago to the dynamic art scenes of Paris and New York to popular American art colonies in Provincetown, Santa Fe, and Lambertville, New Jersey. These various locales encouraged him to engage with new styles and techniques in oil paintings, watercolors, prints, woodcuts, and etchings. His landscapes, portraits, and still lifes showed similarities with the work of Matisse and Cézanne, as well as elements of cubism, and his wood carvings and prints revealed influences from Paul Gauguin and Japanese traditions.
In the 1930s Nordfeldt taught at the Minneapolis School of Art (now the Minneapolis College of Art and Design). In 2021 the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota will host a major exhibition of Nordfeldt’s diverse art. A comprehensive review of this “independent regionalist” and intensely innovative artist, B. J. O. Nordfeldt: American Internationalist also presents the impressive breadth and creative exploration of twentieth-century American modernist art.
Contributors: Annika Johnson, Paul Kruty, and Janet Whitmore.
Trade Review"Let the seascapes, portraits, and still lifes of B. J. O. Nordfeldt decorate your walls and your coffee table. This 160-page catalogue explores the Swedish-born American printmaker and painter’s modernist works—from oil paintings and watercolors to woodcuts, etchings, and more."—Midwest Home
Table of ContentsContents
Foreword
Lyndel King
Acknowledgments
Gabriel P. Weisberg, PhD
B. J. O. Nordfeldt: American Internationalist
Gabriel P. Weisberg, PhD
Bror Julius Olsson Nordfelt and Modernist Chicago
Janet Whitmore
Nordfeldt as Printmaker
Annika Johnson
Emily and Nord: An Enduring Partnership
Paul Kruty
Catalogue of Works
Contributors to the Catalogue
Index
