Gustav Bolin
Gustav Bolin presents us with a summer beach scene, a moment from the summer of 1957 in Antibes, full of life and gaiety in a palette bathed in Mediterranean light.
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated 57 lower left
Dimensions: 89 x 116 cm
With frame: 103 x 130 cm
Price: 28 000 Euros
” Between figuration and abstraction, his art is a perpetual search for independence and harmony. His characters move us, his labyrinths stun us, his lights soothe us: each painting is a singular adventure that cannot leave the attentive observer indifferent. ”
Bertrand Delanoë – Preface to the Gustave Bolin exhibition at Paris City Hall in 2006.
Gustav Bolin, a sumptuous colorist
In this beach scene in Antibes, Gustav Bolin’s palette is bathed in Mediterranean light. Clarity radiates the entire surface of the canvas. Luminous colors in predominantly yellow and pink, punctuated by flecks of blue, rust, bright orange and green…
Gustav Bolin’s art, between figuration and abstraction.
It takes some deciphering effort to assign a meaning to these indefinite contours, then appear the motifs represented, the elements of the decor. Painted in hasty strokes, his style does not belong to any movement, but he can be placed between abstraction and figuration.
Biography
Painter of Swedish and Russian origin, born in Stockholm and died in Antibes.
Gustav Bolin descended from a family of goldsmiths who supplied the Tsarist court in St. Petersburg, and later the Swedish royal family, for three generations.
Gustav Bolin moved to France in 1921 and was introduced to art in the effervescence of Parisian cultural life. He studied under Emile Othon Friesz at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.
After spending a year in Stockholm in 1940, Bolin returned to France in an occupied Paris and spent time in the south of France, in Valence and Marseille, where he painted numerous landscapes alongside Charles Rollier, Alexandre Garbell and Pierre Tal Coat.
In 1943, he made a “pilgrimage trip” to the Aix region in search of Cézanne, then decided to return to Paris and set up in the studio lent to him by Pierre Tal-Coat in the Plaisance district. This was the time of his first encounters with Picasso and many other artists, in the Montparnasse cafés Le Dôme and La Coupole, and in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, in the famous Café de Flore.
Gustav Bolin also met Diego Giacometti, who found him a studio close to his own, in the rue du Moulin-Vert.
He became very friendly with Nicolas de Staël.
His influences
The influence of Cubism will be decisive, and this approach will play a role in regulating forms, establishing a search for synthesis, instilling a taste for concision and strengthening style to its quintessence. His teaching was based on this duality, which implies the eloquence of lyricism and the temperance of reflection.
Far from allowing himself to be carried away by sentiment, it was important to give a plastic unity to the forms retained, harmony no longer being the consequence of a code, but the logic of forms inspired by reality, which were then a kind of sensitive mirror of it.
Gustav Bolin was a discreet, secretive artist, far too secretive for his reputation, who led an ascetic life without excess.
His exhibitions
In 1949, he signed contracts with several national and international galleries, notably in Stockholm, but also in New York and Tokyo. In 1973, the Musée Galliera in Paris exhibited a major group of his paintings alongside those of Bengt Lindström.
Dividing his time between his Paris studio and that in Antibes, Gustav Bolin spontaneously adapted his work to the location. He died in Antibes in August 1999.
Outside France, he has exhibited in many countries, including Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Japan, the United States and Canada.
Exhibitions
France, Belgium, Italy
1948, Galerie Pierre Loeb, Paris
1950, Galerie Art Vivant, Paris; Galerie du Haut-Pavé, Paris (with Bazaine, Nicolas de Staël, Estève, Lapicque, Tal Coat; ” Expression et Création “, Galerie Art Vivant, with de Staël, Villon, Bissière, Chatel, Cottavoz, Estève, Garbell, Germain, Lapicque, Masson, Miro, Poliakoff, Tal Coat
1957, “Convergence”, Galerie Art Vivant, Paris, with G. Asse, Germain, Debré, Lanskoy, Lesieur, Rollier, de Staël
1959, Galerie de l’Ancienne Comédie, Paris, group of 25 painters
1960, Galerie Coard, Paris; Galerie Kriegel, Paris
1963, Galerie Charpentier, Paris; Galerie Kriegel, Paris
1965, Galerie Kriegel, Paris
1966, Galerie Kriegel, Paris
1969, Galerie Septentrion, Lille
1970, Galerie Renée Laporte, Antibes; Biennale de Menton
1973-1974, Musée Galliera, Paris (preface by Georges Boudaille)
1975, Galerie Art Streaming, Paris
1977, “L’aventure de Pierre Loeb”, Musée d’Art moderne de Paris
1979, Musée d’Ixelles, Brussels
1980, Galerie Coard, Paris
1981, “Fiac”, LeifStahle stand, Paris (Bolin, Germain, Lindström)
1982, Swedish Cultural Centre, Paris
1983, Galerie Coard, Paris
1985, Galerie Coard, Paris
1988, Galerie Coard, Paris
1989, Galerie Coard, Paris
1990, “10 days with Sweden”, Grande Arche, La Défense
1991, Galerie Désiré, Lyon
1992, Galerie Coard, Paris
1993, Swedish Art Association of Paris
1995, “Retrospective”, Galerie Dionne, Paris
1999, Galerie Nicolas Deman, Paris; “Bolin, Lindström, Cobra”, Ghironda Foundation, Bologna
2006, “Gustav Bolin, a Swedish painter in Paris”, Paris City Hall
2006, Retrospective, Galerie A Tempera, Le Louvre des antiquaires, Paris
2007, “Gustav Bolin, non-figurative period”, Galerie A Tempera, Le Louvre des antiquaires, Paris
2009, “Gustav Bolin, pastels” , Galerie Chauvy, Paris
2010, “Gustav Bolin, Peintures non-figuratives, Oeuvres Inédites 1970-1980”, Galerie Pierre-Francois Garcier, Paris
Sweden
1970, Eklunds Konsthandel, Umeå
1976, Sollefteås Konstförening ; Stockholm ; Galleri Glimminge, Ystad
1977, Konstgården, Helsingborg
1978, Galleri Olga S, Stockholm
1981, International Art expo SIAE, Stockholm ; Galleri Fågelsång Helsingborg ; Galleri Eklund Umeå
1982, Galleri Fågelsång, Helsingborg ; International Art expo SIAE, Stockholm
1983, Galleri Östermalm Stockholm ; Agardsgalleriet, Båstad
1985, International Art expo SIAE, Stockholm
1987, Galleri Scandinavia, Göteborg
1989, Galleri Östermalm, Stockholm
1991, Galleri Scandinavia, Göteborg
Japan
1964, Nichido Gallery, Tokyo
1967, International Figurative Exhibition, Tokyo
1968, Nichido Gallery, Tokyo
1969, Nichido Gallery, Tokyo
1969, Tokyo Biennale, Tokyo International Salon
United States
1963, David Findley, New York
1967, David Findley, New York
1968, David Findley, New York
Canada
1983, Trevisan Gallery, Edmonton
Bibliography
Source
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Bolin
http://pfdj.fr/bolingustav/savie.html
