Osvald Sirén (6 April 1879 – 26 June 1966) was a Finnish-born

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

art historian, whose interests included the art of 18th century Sweden, Renaissance Italy and China.

Biography

Sirén was born in Helsinki. He held the J.A. Berg Professorship of the History and Theory of Art at the

University of Stockholm Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, soci ...

1908-1923 and was Keeper of painting and sculpture at Nationalmuseum 1928–1945. He died in Stockholm, aged 87. In the area of

Chinese art Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based in or draws on Chinese ...

, his major books include ''Gardens of China'', ''China and Gardens of Europe of the 18th century'', ''Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles'', and ''

The Walls and Gates of Peking ''The Walls and Gates of Peking'' is a book written by Osvald Sirén, originally published in English with a run of 800 copies by The Bodley Head in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city o ...

'' (1924). Sirén was an early member of the theosophist movement. In 1956, he was awarded the

Charles Lang Freer Medal The Charles Lang Freer medal was established in 1956 by the Smithsonian Institution in honor of Charles Lang Freer, the founder of the Freer collection. The medal is conferred intermittently, honoring distinguished career contributions made by ...

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Osvald Sirén, OCLC/

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

encompasses roughly 700+ works in 1,oo+ publications in 12 languages and 8,000+ library holdings. WorldCat Identities Sirén, Osvald 1879-
/ref> * ''A Descriptive Catalogue of the Pictures in the Jarves Collection Belonging to Yale University'' (1916) * ''Giotto and Some of his Followers'' (1917) * ''

'' (1924) * ''Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century; over 900 Specimens in Stone, Bronze, Lacquer and Wood, Principally from Northern China'' (1925) * ''Les palais imperiaux de Pekin'' (1926) * ''A History of Early Chinese Art'' (1929) * ''The Chinese on the Art of Painting: Translations and Comments'' (1936) * ''A History of Later Chinese Painting'' (1938) * ''Gardens of China'' (1949) * ''China and Gardens of Europe of the Eighteenth Century'' (1950) * ''Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles'' (1956) * ''Chinese Sculptures in the von der Heydt Collection'' (1959)

Notes

References

* Eriksson, Johan, "Osvald Sirén: Art Historian, Curator and Conoisseur”, ''Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting'', vol. I, Nationalmuseum/Hatje Cantz, Stockholm 2015, pp. 278-285. * Gyllensvärd, Bo, "Osvald Sirén", '' Konsthistorisk tidskrift'', 35 (1966), pp. 102–105 * Johansson, Britt-Inger & Pettersson, Hans (eds.), ''8 kapitel om konsthistoriens historia i Sverige'', Stockholm: Rasters förlag, 2000 * Minna Törmä,
Nordic Private Collections of Chinese Objects
' (Routledge, 2020). * Watson, William, "Professor Osvald Sirén", ''

Burlington Magazine ''The Burlington Magazine'' is a monthly publication that covers the fine and decorative arts of all periods. Established in 1903, it is the longest running art journal in the English language. It has been published by a charitable organisation s ...

'', 108 (1966), p. 484-485.

External links

Profile of Siren
1879 births 1966 deaths Academic staff of Stockholm University Swedish art historians Finnish emigrants to Sweden Swedish-speaking Finns {{Europe-art-historian-stub