Roland Svensson (18January 191031July 2003), was a Swedish painter, writer,
black and white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
artist, illustrator of books and originals for stamps. He is most noted for his depiction of the
Stockholm archipelago. He also wrote several books.
Biography
Svensson sought out his motifs among the islets and skerries around the summer cottage and
studio
A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...
at Stora Tornö, across the
Långvik strait on
Möja
Möja is an island in the Stockholm archipelago in Sweden. Möja is one of the most popular islands in the archipelago for travelers and boaters, and is also fairly large.
Möja is frequented by the ferries of Waxholmsbolaget
Waxholms Ångfart ...
in the Stockholm archipelago. He also wrote books describing the seasonal changes in the arcepelago with deep and vivid animation. His style was forceful and impressionistic but not without a strong feeling for decorative elements. He preferred to draw with coal. His views on Swedish nature and Swedish characteristics is close to that of
Karl Nordström
Karl Fredrik Nordström (11 July 1855 – 16 August 1923) was a Swedish painter who specialized in landscapes. From 1896 to 1920, he was Chairman of the Association of Artists (Konstnärsförbundet).
Biography
His father was a police commissio ...
and
Albert Engström
Albert Engström (1869 – 1940) was a Swedish artist, author and member of the Swedish Academy from 1922. Albert Engström. ''sv.wikipedia.org''. Retrieved: June 27, 2013.
Author and Artist
Engström was born in Lönneberga, Kalmar County ( ...
. He became much noted through his color
lithography
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
's.
In two books by
Sven Barthel, Svensson contributed with black and white illustrations as well as
water colors and
pastel
A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...
drawings. These books are deemed very Swedish with their harsh simplicity and the true love for nature expressed in them. The books are considered very beautiful and have been called classics in both the literary and artistic sense.
In 1957 and 1958 Svensson participated, as an artist, in arctic expeditions to
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...
and
North Cape, Norway aboard the ship .
Roland Svensson was married to Ingrid and they had two children, Lif (Marriott) and Torbjörn. In 1957, Svensson and his family moved to Villa Wallbeck–Hansen at Storängen,
Nacka
Nacka () is the municipal seat of Nacka Municipality and part of Stockholm urban area in Sweden. The municipality's name harks back to a 16th-century industrial operation established by the Crown at Nacka farmstead where conditions for water mil ...
in Sweden, and it also became Svensson's main studio. This house in the
National Romantic style once belonged to artist
Anton Genberg.
Svensson spent much time on the
Isle of Canna in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland where he was a close friend of folklorists
John Lorne Campbell
Dr John Lorne Campbell FRSE LLD OBE ( gd, Iain Latharna Caimbeul) (1906–1996) was a Scottish historian, farmer, environmentalist and folklorist, and recognized scholar of Scottish Gaelic literature.
Early life
According to his biographer, Ray ...
an
Margaret Fay Shaw He did many drawings and paintings on both Canna and South Uist
Roland Svensson is buried at Möja church cemetery.
Illustrated publications
For other writhers
*
Evert Taube
Axel Evert Taube (; 12 March 1890 – 31 January 1976) was a Swedish author, artist, composer and singer. He is widely regarded as one of Sweden's most respected musicians and the foremost troubadour of the Swedish ballad tradition in the 20th c ...
, ''Sjösalaboken'' ("The book about Sjösala"), 1942.
*
Sven Barthel, ''Cykloncentrum'' ("Center of the cyclone"), 1940.
*
Sven Barthel, ''Gillöga'' ("Gillöga island"), 1945.
*
Sven Barthel, ''Skärgård'' ("Archipelago"), Stockholm: Bonniers, 1952.
* Iwan Fischerström, ''Roland Svensson'', FIB's art club, 1960.
*
Sven Barthel, ''Strandhugg'' ("Forays along beaches"), Max Ström, 2000.
Own works
* ''Ensliga öar'' ("Solitary islands"), R&S, 1954.
* ''Hav och människor'' ("Sea and humans"), R&S, 1957, extended edition Vingförlaget, 1950.
* ''Skärgårdsliv i gången tid'' ("Life in the archipelago in the old days"), Stockholm: Bonniers, 1961.
* ''Min skärgård och din'' ("My archipelago and yours"), Bonniers, 1964.
* ''Ur skissböckerna'' ("From the sketch books"), Piccolo/LT, 1969.
* ''Från havet: dagboksanteckningar från en resa ombord i T/T Sea Serpent'' ("From the sea, diary notes from a journey aboard the T/T Sea Serpent"), Bonniers, 1972.
* ''Bilder och minnen'' ("Pictures and memories"), Bonniers, 1981.
* ''I Roland Svenssons övärld: ett urval ur hundra dagböcker 1946–1960'' ("In Roland Svensson's world of Islands – a selection from a hundred diaries 1946–1960"), Bonnier Alba, 1995.
* He also published illustrated books describing the meeting of land and sea around
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
and distant islands such as
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
,
Shetland
Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.
The islands lie about to the no ...
,
Hebrides
The Hebrides (; gd, Innse Gall, ; non, Suðreyjar, "southern isles") are an archipelago off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner and Outer Hebrid ...
and
Tristan da Cunha
Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately from Cape Town in South Africa, from Saint Helena ...
.
Further reading
*
Exhibitions
* Roland Svensson ''Skärgård, öar och hav'' ("Archipelago, islands and sea") The Prins Eugen art venue at
Waldemarsudde, Stockholm, 18 September 2010 – 16 January 2011, retrospective.
References
External links
* ("Friends of Roland Svensson") – a society founded in March 2003. In
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 ...
, but with all the graphic prints.
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Svensson, Roland
1910 births
2003 deaths
Artists from Stockholm
Swedish artists
Swedish illustrators
Swedish male writers