ArtistSwedish
Karl Hultström
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Gustav Adolf Karl Mauritz Hultström was born on July 9, 1884 on Kungsholmen in Stockholm, the son of merchant Gustaf Hultström and his wife Maria Westin. He began his working life as a journalist before turning fully to art, training at Althin's painting school and then at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm from 1906 to 1910. After completing his studies he made extended journeys to Denmark, Germany, and Italy that sharpened his eye for both northern and Mediterranean sculptural traditions.
Hultström worked across an unusually broad range of materials and scales. As a sculptor he produced in terracotta, ceramics, plaster, wood, granite, and concrete, moving between monumental public commissions and intimate decorative objects. His largest works are anchored in Swedish public space: the Engelbrekt Monument in Falun, modelled in 1919, and the fountain group 'Befriaren' (1914) in Henry Allard's Park in Örebro — for which the Swedish Olympic gymnastics gold medallist Axel Janse served as the model at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. He also created a monument to the illustrator John Bauer in Jönköping and the fountain 'St. Christopher' in Stockholm, establishing him as a sculptor of genuine civic reach.
Alongside this public work, Hultström maintained a sustained career in applied design. He was active at the Kosta glassworks during two periods — 1917 to 1919 and 1927 to 1928 — where he worked with engraved glass and produced unique overlay pieces. He also designed for the ceramic factory Bobergs Fajansfabrik (Bo fajans) in Gävle, and illustrated fairy tales by Ingeborg Sundström. His most commercially enduring contribution came through his collaboration with Guldsmedsaktiebolaget (GAB) in Stockholm, for which he designed a series of silver objects in the 1920s and 1930s. The best known of these is the small silver tray or ashtray 'Vindarnas lek' (Play of the Winds), a circular piece with a relief composition so polished in its Art Nouveau-adjacent classicism that it was for years mistakenly attributed to Carl Milles.
On the Auctionist platform, all 12 recorded works attributed to Hultström fall within the Silver & Metals category, with pieces manufactured by GAB Stockholm appearing consistently — including 'Vindarnas lek' variants from the 1950s through the 1970s and the 'Poseidon till häst' silver tray. Auction activity has occurred at houses including Auktionshuset Kolonn, Stockholms Auktionsverk, and Stadsauktion Sundsvall. Realized prices have ranged from 750 SEK for a single coaster to 1,701 EUR for a paired set with Bakelite handles, reflecting steady collector demand for his GAB silver work. Hultström died on January 13, 1973 in Stockholm; his wife Naemi died just months later the same year.