Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt

Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt
Born	(1878-03-13)March 13, 1878 Tullstorp, Sweden
Died	April 21, 1955(1955-04-21) (aged 77) Henderson, Texas, United States
Cause of death	Heart attack
Education	Art Institute of Chicago

Father and Son. Black and white reproduction from 1921 exhibition catalog.

Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt (April 13, 1878 – April 21, 1955) was an American artist who painted seascapes and depictions of New Mexico's indigenous culture.

Background

He was born in Tullstorp, Malmö, Skåne County, Sweden the son of Nils and Ingrid (Nordfeldt) Olsson. The family immigrated to the United States in 1892. He first worked as a typesetter for the Swedish language newspaper, Det Rätta Hemlandet. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago and studied with Frederick Richardson. He later apprenticed with Albert Herter in New York City. He studied in Paris at the Académie Julian. He adopted his mother's surname to avoid confusion with the maritime artist (Alfred) Julius Olsson, whose work was then becoming popular in Europe and America.

Career

During World War I he was in San Francisco where he registered for the draft. During the war, Nordfeldt was assigned to San Francisco to supervise the camouflage of merchant ships. After his service in World War I, he moved to Taos, New Mexico. In 1921, Nordfeldt joined the Taos Society of Artists. In the late 1930s he relocated to Lambertville, New Jersey.

Throughout the 1930s, Nordfeldt taught at various schools including Utah State College, the Wichita Art Association and the Minneapolis School of Art. From 1941-43, he was a guest professor for the Department of Art of the University of Texas.

Nordfeldt worked in diverse styles and media, including etchings and prints, portraiture, still lifes, and landscapes. Nordfeldt strove for a flattening of form and distortion of space, creating stylized images. He chose subjects laden with emotional power, especially nature and religious scenes.

Nordfeldt exhibited in numerous museums and galleries and received many significant awards and prizes in the course of his career. His works are held in the Art Institute of Chicago, the New York Public Library, New Mexico Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Newberry Library, and the Hirshhorn Museum as well as many other venues. Biographical sketches for Nordfeld are published in most standard art reference works. His papers are held in the Manuscript Collections of the Archives of American Art. He died in Henderson, Texas on April 21, 1955.

Awards

• 1906 Silver Medal, International Print Exhibition in Milan, Italy
• 1915 Silver Medal, Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, California
• 1926 Bronze Medal, Sesquicentennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• 1926 Logan Medal of the Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois
• 1927 First Prize, Brooklyn Society of Etchers in Brooklyn, New York
• 1928 First Prize, Chicago Society of Etchers in Chicago, Illinois
• 1937 Yetter Prize for Painting from the Denver Art Museum
• 1947 Purchase Prize for Painting from the Worcester Art Museum
• 1949 Bronze Medal, from the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

References

• Haugan, Reidar Rye Prominent Artists and Exhibits of Their Work in Chicago (Chicago Norske Klub. Nordmanns-Forbundet, 24: 371—374,Volume 7, 1933)
• Coke, Van Deren Nordfeldt the Painter (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1972)
• Hunter, Sam. B.J.O. Nordfeldt: An American Expressionist (1984)
• Swanson, Mary T. The Immigrant Molds the Image: the Life of B.J.O. Nordfeldt (Swedish American Historical Quarterly. Vol. XLII pp. 69–89. April 1991)
• Crump, Robert L. Minnesota Prints and Printmakers, 1900-1945 (Minneapolis: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2009)

External links

• Media related to Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt at Wikimedia Commons
• Swedish-American Works from the Hillstrom Collection
• B. J. O. Nordfeldt works at New Mexico Museum of Art