ArtistSwedish
Suzanne Nessim
2 active items
Suzanne Beatrice Nessim was born on 25 December 1944 in Malmö, Sweden, the daughter of businessman Jean Nessim (1887-1946) and Ulla Hagberg (1918-1992). She trained at the Architecture School in Copenhagen and at Konstskolan Forum in Malmö, a graphic arts school that shaped her early practice. Her first exhibition took place in 1970, launching a career that would move through several countries and media over the following decades.
During the 1970s Nessim concentrated primarily on printmaking - color lithographs and etchings - exhibiting through galleries across Sweden. She also spent extended periods working in Paris, San Francisco, and New York, absorbing currents in contemporary European and American art and building connections that would prove lasting. She has been based in Stockholm since 1993.
In 1978 Nessim was among the very first artists to make video at Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, where she co-created the video work "Swimmer" with artist Teresa Wennberg. Shot around the experience of swimming as a metaphor for survival, the work is held in the collection of Moderna Museet in Stockholm and represents a pivotal moment in Scandinavian video art history. That same period brought collaborations with John Cage and Nam June Paik, placing Nessim within a network of experimental sound and image artists working at the intersection of multiple disciplines.
The range of public collections holding her work reflects the breadth of that career. Nessim is represented at the British Museum in London, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Städtisches Kunstmuseum in Bonn, Institut Tessin in Paris, Moderna Museet, and Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. A retrospective monograph, "Om Suzanne Nessim" by Mikael Timm with a foreword by Olle Granath, was published by Bokförlaget Arena in 2009.
On the Swedish auction market, 17 lots attributed to Suzanne Nessim have appeared, predominantly graphic works - 7 prints alongside 9 works catalogued as art/works on paper, and 1 painting. Metropol in Stockholm has been the most active venue for her work (6 lots), followed by Helsingborgs Auktionskammare, Formstad Auktioner, Gomér & Andersson Linköping, and Crafoord Auktioner Lund. Top recorded auction prices reach approximately 1,100 SEK for a signed and numbered color etching. The modest auction prices stand in contrast to the depth of her institutional representation, suggesting her primary market significance lies in the public collections and gallery sector rather than the secondary auction market.