Edward Friström

Sweden, b.1864, d.1950

Untitled (landscape with trees)

  • c. 1910
  • Oil on board
  • Purchased, 2005
  • 302 x 315mm
  • 2005/064

Brought to light, November 2009- 22 February 2011

Swedish artist Edward Friström arrived in New Zealand in 1903 having first spent several years in Australia. Although it is thought that Friström was self-taught, his work displays an assurance and confidence that belies this conclusion. He favoured painting outdoors, or ‘en plein-air’, and his direct approach to recording the New Zealand landscape was often viewed negatively as being too progressive. One contemporary reviewer commented that his work was that of a ‘fanatic’ and that he rejected ‘any detail whatsoever’. Friström’s work stands out in New Zealand painting of the early 1900s for its refreshing sense of spontaneity and vigour.

Exhibition History

earlier labels about this work
  • [Nature's Own Voice, 6 February – 26 July 2009]http://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/exhibitions/natures-own-voice)

    Swedish artist Edward Friström arrived in New Zealand in 1903 and travelled extensively throughout both the North and South Islands completing plein-air sketches. In 1925 he stated in a letter that he preferred working outdoors to the studio. There is a refreshing sense of spontaneity in this untitled work; the thickly applied impasto paint has been vigorously laid down, suggesting that the artist worked quickly to record the scene before him.