A r t i s t i c E x c e l l e n c e S c h o l a r s h i p C o n s e r v a t i o n I n t e g r i t y
A R T C O L L E C T I O N
About
Every Moment is a Memory
Title:
"Farm in the Valley", 1926
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Artist:
Hadar Jönzén (1885−1977)
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Type:
Oil on canvas
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Size:
38 x 46 cm
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Signed:
Lower right
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RHA I.D.#:
RHA-07/2010-047
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Provenance:
Bukowskis Auctioneer Malmö, July 2010 Auction Lot 178509
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Later photo of the artist Hadar Jönzén
In 1926, when the work above was painted, a collection of young promising Swedish artists with different styles and idioms had been exhibiting in Stockholm. They included Bror Hjort, Hadar Jönzén and Mollie Faustman and Greta Knutson. They called themselves "The Optimists" and were formed in 1924. The group had no stated common approach or agenda other than that they were seen as a kind of response to “the new objectivity”. Some of the members of the Optimists are said to have been behind the new objectivity movement, although the group's combined art is itself difficult to interpret as a direct counterpart to it... New Objectivity was established in the 1920s as a reaction against modernist styles and advocated a return to realism and more traditional, figurative motifs. Furthermore, what united the group is often described as a counter-reaction to Otte Sköld.
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Emily Jacoby Kask, "To predict a beautiful success", Uppsala University Department of Art History, p.14.
Hadar Jönzén (1885−1977)
Hadar Jönzén was a Swedish visual artist born in Tyresö, Stockholm County in 1885 and part of the early Swedish avant garde. He spent most of his upbringing in Sundsvall together with his close friend Leander Engström, where they became frequent visitors to the art exhibitions organized in the area.
He studied at the Technical School in Stockholm from 1904−1905 and at the Swedish Artist's Association School from 1906−1908. In the summer of 1906 Jönzén and Engström took their first trip to Stockholm where they came into contact for the first time with the Norrland painter Helmer Osslund. Osslund had appreciable influence on both of the younger artists. Later, in 1907, Jönzén, Engström and Osslund all won Lapland honors from the Swedish Artist's Association.
Jönzén continued his studies in Paris from 1909−1911 and 1912−1914 and was for a time a pupil at Académie Matisse. In 1909 the artist showed works in Gävle at "Four Young Painters Exhibition" (fyra unga målares utställning) that included Engström and the artists Edith Granström and Gadde Strandberg. He exhibited at "The Young Ones" (De Ungas) third exhibition in 1911 at Hallins konsthandel in Stockholm along with his friend Engström. Later he made study trips to England in 1915 and to Spain from 1916−1920.
He settled in Paris in 1920 but made frequent visits to Sweden. In 1924, Jönzén and other artists formed a group that called themselves "The Optimists", as a counter-reaction to the "Falangen" artist group led by Otte Sköld. The group debuted in 1926 in Stockholm, and later in Gothenburg and London. At the first exhibition at Liljevalchs Konsthall, artists included Greta Knudson, Ewald Dahlskog, Mollie Faustman, Carl Gunne, Bror Hjorth and Edvin Ollers.
Later he exhibited at Göteborgs Konsthall in 1930 together with Carl Frisendahl and Lennart Blomquist. He was known for painting landscapes, street motifs and figure compositions.
In 2014 Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde held an exhibition of artists that studied under Henri Matisse tltled," Inspiration Matisse!". Hadar Jönzén was included along with works by Isaac Grünewald, Sigrid Hjertén, Leander Engström, Nils Dardel, Maj Bring and Einar Jolin.
The artist is represented in The Moderna Muséet in Stockholm, the National Museum in Stockholm, and the County Museum in Gävleborg.