All About Edvin Ollers 1888-1959
Edvin Ollers was a Swedish artist and designer known for his broad range of talents in different media including glass, pewter, silver, wood, and oil painting. His works can be found in museums around Sweden. He worked his whole life as an art teacher and as an artist, and was represented in exhibitions in Stockholm six times in the early 20th century.
Collins & Green Art specialises in affordable and decorative vintage paintings and we are delighted to have a selection of pantings by Ollers available on the website at the moment.
Photograph of Edvin Ollers from the Swedish Dictionary of Art and Artists.
Swedish roots
'Harbour in Afternoon Light' signed Edvin Ollers (1888-1959), oil on canvas. Available at Collins & Green Art, click the image above for more information.
Born 28 March 1888 in Norrtälje, on the outskirts of Stockholm. Ollers began his career in art and design studying at the Higher School of Art in Stockholm for a year in 1909, folllowed by a year at the Gothenburg Museum School of Drawing and Painting, now part of the University of Gothenburg. His studies led him into becoming an art teacher at the Östra Real in Stockholm, specialising in drawing. The harbour scene below is typical of the the town of Norrtälje, as well as other coastal villages and ports in Sweden.
Teaching career and industry innovator
'Still Life in the Artist's Studio", signed Edvin Ollers. Oil on paper in a vintage gilt frame with deep linen mount. Available at Collins & Green Art, click the image for more information.
During this time, he also became an assistant teacher at the Technical School in Stockholm, where he could demonstrate his design talents, and where he probably drew inspiration for his candlesticks, bookends, and vases. Ollers was part of a government-backed project to renew the Swedish glass industry in the early 20th century, with a new information bureau being founded in southeastern Sweden in 1914 to encourage an exchange of industry throughout the country. He wrote that he wanted to create 'more beautiful things for everyday use'.
'Vegetable Garden in Springtime', signed Edvin Ollers. Oil on canvas, available at Collins & Green Art. Click the image for more information.
European Inspirations
'Mountain View' signed Edvin Ollers, Watercolour and pencil on paper under glass in a vintage gilt frame with green card mount. Available at Collins & Green Art, click the image above for more information.
Ollers worked as a teacher for over 32 years, running his own painting school where he took students on study trips around Europe and beyond, to places such as Germany, Spain, and Tunisia. He was particularly inspired by the works of Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), whose work he came into contact with on his visits to France. This influence can certainly be seen in Ollers' landscape works, in which abstraction and real-life representation merge into a post-impressionistic vision. For instance the work pictured above, 'Vegetable Garden in Springtime', may be France or Italy, given the two cypress tress in the background which are not typical of Sweden but more common of Cezanne's native Southern France. The painting certainly shows the influence of Cezanne in its palette and brushwork.
Design Career
Ceramic vase designed by Edvin Ollers, 1918, image courtesy of National Museum Sweden.
Ollers was interested in preserving Swedish traditions as well as embracing more modern styles from wider Europe, with his industry designs in particular upholding motifs from furniture-making of centuries earlier. His glass, pewter, and ceramic work combines the traditional and the modern, common to many European art movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries including Charles Rennie Mackintosh's interpretations of Art Nouveau, the earlier Arts and Crafts movement in Britain, and the Secessionist movement in Vienna. Each of these movements chose to preserve ways of making and designing which was central to national identity and the skill of the traditions craftworkers; knowledge easily lost in the shadow of modern industrialisation.
Glass designs by Edvin Ollers, image courtesy of the National Museum Sweden.
Final Thoughts
'Still Life with Vegetables' signed Edvin Ollers, oil on canvas. Available at Collins & Green Art, click the image above for more information.
Ollers has been somewhat neglected in modern art history and criticism, and with his talents spanning different media and styles, he should be considered an innovator of his crafts. Scandinavian artists of the 20th century are often overlooked in discussions of European art; as mentioned earlier, there was a great cultural exchange between artists in Europe, particularly in the Art Nouveau movement which spanned Europe, from Scotland, Sweden, France and down to Austria. Ollers dedicated his life to art through both its teaching and its creation and there is probably a lot more about his work out there to discover.
Written by Eloise Saggers, Collins & Green Art
