ArtistSwedish
Ryno Frieberg
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Born on August 30, 1920 in Falun, Gustaf Anton Ryno Frieberg grew up partly in Söderbärke where his father managed forest holdings, and from 1933 in Strömsberg in northern Uppland. He completed school in Gävle in 1940, and that same year set course for Stockholm to begin formal artistic training, attending the painting schools of both Sigge Bergström and Otte Sköld before advancing to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Konstakademien), where he studied under Emil Johansson-Thor and the printmaker Harald Sallberg.
By 1941 he was already appearing in the National Museum's annual exhibition for emerging draftsmen, 'Unga tecknare', a debut that signalled his quick integration into Stockholm's professional art world. His solo debut came two years later, in 1943 at Gummessons Konsthall - a reception described as a clear success. Solo exhibitions followed in Norrköping, Gävle, Uppsala, and Skövde over the next decades, establishing him as a steady and respected presence in Swedish regional and national art circles.
After the end of World War II, Frieberg married the artist Beth Zeeh, herself trained in Vienna and Paris, and the couple traveled to France, settling in Paris for a period. The experience left clear marks on his palette and on his preference for figure-centred domestic scenes. His subjects ranged across portraits, nudes, interiors, landscapes, and still lifes - the latter frequently featuring flowers, azaleas, roses, lily of the valley, and rowan blossoms rendered with close observation and warm tonality.
His prints - lithographs and etchings studied under Sallberg - added a graphic discipline to his work that is visible in his more linear compositions. A signed and numbered 1961 lithograph (47/200) circulating at auction confirms that edition printmaking was a sustained part of his practice, not merely a student exercise.
Works by Frieberg entered public collections including the Nationalmuseum and Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Gothenburg Museum of Art, and regional museums in Norrköping, Falun, Gävle, Hudiksvall, Luleå, Södertälje, and Eskilstuna, as well as the Tessin Institute in Paris and the national portrait gallery at Gripsholm Castle. He died on November 19, 2018, at the age of 98, having worked as a painter for nearly eight decades.
On the secondary market, Frieberg's paintings appear regularly through Stockholm-area auction houses, including Stockholms Auktionsverk, Södermanlands Auktionsverk, and Crafoord Auktioner. Of the 11 recorded lots on Auctionist, sold prices range from 450 SEK for a numbered lithograph to 2,600 SEK for an oil still life of rowan blossoms. His oils on canvas - still lifes and figural works from the 1940s through the 1980s - represent the most actively traded part of his output.