KunstenaarSwedish
Kulo Green
1 actieve items
Gustav Holger Fritiof Green, known throughout his life and career as Kulo Green, was born on December 4, 1913, in Skara, in western Sweden. He was the son of a master painter, and grew up in an environment where craft and visual culture were present from an early age. His trajectory took him from provincial Sweden to Paris and southern Europe, accumulating a richly varied set of influences that would shape an output spanning oil painting, watercolour, fresco, and sculpture.
Green's formal training began at the Technical Evening School (Tekniska aftonskolan) in Stockholm in 1936-1937. He then studied with Isaac Grünewald, one of the most influential Swedish modernists of the early twentieth century and a pupil of Henri Matisse, from 1945 to 1946. In 1947, he traveled to Paris and studied at the Académie André Lhote and worked alongside Pablo Picasso, an encounter that left a lasting mark on his approach to form and colour. Further study trips took him through Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and Norway.
During the 1950s and early 1960s, Green divided his time between Sweden and Spain, living for extended periods on Ibiza and in Catalonia. From 1953 to 1962, he was based in Borås on Torstenssonsgatan, returning to Catalonia seasonally. These years in Spain gave his palette a warmth and directness that distinguished his work from his Nordic contemporaries. His subjects ranged from still lifes and landscapes to abstract compositions and figurative scenes, rendered in oil, gouache, pastel, and watercolour.
Green was an active exhibitor throughout his career. Solo shows in the 1940s in Borås, Skara, and Gothenburg established his reputation in the Swedish west coast region. He exhibited at De ungas salong in Stockholm during the 1950s and at Mariagalleriet in Stockholm in 1964. His participation in Liljevalchs vårsalong during the 1960s brought him before broader national audiences. Alongside his own practice, he worked as a drawing teacher at the secondary school in Borås and taught at the Ålgården painting school.
Green left a significant mark on public space in the Borås area. His most discussed public work is the fifteen-metre-long fresco "Rullande hjul" (Rolling Wheels) in Borås, famously painted in a single night on a concrete wall in the light of car headlights. He also created a large mural for Leander Johansson's staff room and a scrap metal sculpture titled "Kungen och drottningen" (The King and Queen) in Sjömarken, where he died on February 24, 1972.
On the secondary market, Green's work circulates primarily through Swedish regional houses. Of the 42 lots recorded at auction, 21 have come through Borås Auktionshall - the auction house closest to his main area of activity - followed by Göteborgs Auktionsverk (6 lots) and Crafoord Auktioner in Lund (2 lots). Works are consistently described as oil on panel or canvas, in formats suited to private interiors. Top auction results include an oil on panel at 2,001 SEK, a second oil on panel at 1,500 SEK, and an abstract gouache at 1,300 SEK - price levels that reflect his regional standing rather than a fully discovered national market. With 7 lots currently active, collector interest in his work continues.