KunstenaarSwedish
Stig Jonzon
4 actieve items
Karl Stig Börje Jonsson, who signed his work Stig Jonzon, was born on June 9, 1913, in Köping on the island of Öland in southeastern Sweden. He died on June 15, 1987, in Resmo, also on Öland, where he maintained a studio for much of his working life. The island's coastlines, the shifting light over Kalmarsund, and the weathered architecture of its towns remained constants in his visual world throughout a career that also stretched to Stockholm and Paris.
Jonzon's formal training began in Kalmar, where he studied under the painter Ivan Hoflund between 1931 and 1932. Hoflund was an established regional figure, and the apprenticeship gave Jonzon a grounding in traditional painting before he began extending his reach through travel. Between 1947 and 1950 he made extended study trips to France, spending time in Paris and absorbing the currents of postwar European painting. The influence of those years is visible in his handling of light and urban space, qualities that carry through his Stockholm work as much as his French subjects.
In Paris, his standing was formally recognized when he received a Mention Honorable at the Paris Salon in 1951, the same year he participated in the Groupe Contraste exhibition at the Palais Municipal. Solo exhibitions followed: Ekströms konstgalleri in Stockholm in 1943 and Galerie Moderne in 1951, alongside group appearances in Kalmar, Jönköping, and Örebro. He published the portfolio "50 Kalmarbilder" in 1940, a series of views of Kalmar that functions as both an artistic record and a document of the city's built environment at mid-century.
Jonzon worked in oil, primarily on canvas and panel, and also produced lithographs. His subjects moved between the archipelago landscapes of Öland and Kalmarsund, the street life of Stockholm's old city, and scenes from Paris. The Stockholm paintings are among his most sought-after work: views of Slussen, Stadsgården, the Opera House at Gustav Adolfs torg, and the lanes of Gamla Stan painted with attention to the specific quality of light on stone and water. His paintings are held in the collections of Kalmar konstmuseum and Kalmar läns museum, and were also acquired for the Royal collections of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, as well as the Palais de Saint-Pierre and the Musée Municipal in Lyon.
On the Swedish auction market, Jonzon's work appears regularly at houses across the southeast and in Stockholm, with Auktionskammaren Sydost Kalmar, Kalmar Auktionsverk, Auctionet, and Stockholms Auktionsverk among the most active venues. Oil paintings on panel, particularly Stockholm subjects, achieve the strongest results. "Stockholm, Slussen, Stadsgården" has sold for 11,400 SEK, "Operahuset, Gustav Adolfs torg" for 9,000 SEK, and "Gamla stan Stockholm" dated 1979 for 8,500 SEK. At Bukowskis, a view from Maria Trappgränd in Stockholm sold for 50,000 SEK against an estimate of 20,000 to 30,000 SEK. With 85 lots recorded across multiple houses and a consistent presence in regional auctions, Jonzon holds a stable position in the mid-market for Swedish postwar painting.