Friday, September 19, 2014

Torsten Andersson, Spring Breeze

Torsten Andersson, Spring Breeze, 1946

Otto Torsten Andersson (1926-2009) was a Swedish Modernist painter known for painted depictions of sculptures and other three-dimensional objects. Thematically, Andersson repeatedly explored the question of whether or not painting can be considered a language. This painting contributes to that discussion. Spring Breeze explores the role of nature in our lives, and in the world of modernist painting where abstraction had primacy. This beautiful painting evokes the complexity of nature as well as its fluidity as this tree is blown about by the wind. The tree looks like a cherry, which, given the date of 1946, reminds me of the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ultimately the painting is a beautiful depiction of a natural scene that is quite evocative and speaks to art's ability to communicate complex ideas. 

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