ArtistSwedish
Carin Nilson
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Carin Johanna Nilson was born on 13 September 1884 in Styra, Östergötland, into circumstances that would keep her from formal art training until she was already in her forties. She worked as a nurse in Linköping for a period, and it was not until 1925 that she left that career behind, moved to Stockholm, and enrolled at Gottfrid Larsson's art school. That decisive late start set the tone for what followed: a sculptor who developed her practice with unusual intensity across the late 1920s and 1930s.
After Larsson's school she studied as an irregular student at the Stockholm School of Arts (Konsthögskolan) from 1928 to 1930, where Carl Milles was among her teachers. Milles was at the height of his influence on Swedish sculpture at this time, and his monumental figurative approach left a mark on how Nilson thought about form and the relationship between sculpture and architecture. She also spent time in New York in 1922-23 before beginning her formal studies, and later undertook extensive study travel to France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and England.
The most formative period was her time in Paris, where she worked at the Académie Colarossi and studied under Charles Despiau, Henry Arnold, and Antoine Bourdelle at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Bourdelle, a former assistant to Rodin, was one of the most sought-after sculpture teachers in Europe at the time, and his influence can be seen in the solidity and psychological weight Nilson brought to her figure work. She returned to Stockholm and set up a studio apartment at Sveavägen 98, where she would live and work until her death.
Her output covered a wide range. She modelled portrait busts of notable figures including Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and Swedish Archbishop Nathan Söderblom, and created devotional sculptures such as Madonna figures, Christ figures, and a statuette of the missionary bishop Ansgar for Herrberga Church in Östergötland. She also made figures for Normlösa Church and the chapel at Uppsala Hospital. Alongside these religious and commemorative works she produced fountains, birdbaths, and freestanding figurative sculptures - nude studies, seated models, wind-swept figures - primarily in plaster (gips), with some works cast in bronze or modelled in ceramics.
Nilson died on 20 June 1973 in Stockholm. On Auctionist her work appears across 14 listings, all in the Sculptures category, handled by houses including Bukowskis, Göteborgs Auktionsverk, Ekenbergs, and Stockholms Auktionsverk. Prices are modest and reflect the secondary market for mid-century Swedish figurative sculpture: the top recorded sale on the platform was a plaster figure, kvinna i blåst (woman in the wind), which reached 3,800 SEK. Works from 1927-1949 appear regularly, including early plaster studies and signed ceramics, making her a well-represented sculptor in the Swedish auction market for collectors of that era.