Birger Sandzén’s Art Shines at Soulis Auctions Event
The Swedish-born Sandzén, who emigrated to Kansas in 1894, is known for creating lush canvases that seem as much chiseled as painted.
Two originals works by Birger Sandzén (1871-1954) highlighted Soulis Auctions’ Fall Gallery Auction of Fine & Decorative Art October sale.
Golden Aspens, dating to 1929, topped the day, hammering at $160,000 ($196,800 with buyer’s premium), while Smoky River, from 1921, followed at $120,000 ($147,600 with buyer’s premium). The paintings had been in a Kansas public library, purchased directly from the artist.
Sandzén (1871-1954), a Swedish-born artist who emigrated to Lindsborg, Kansas, in 1894, is known for his images of Kansas and areas farther west such as Colorado and New Mexico. Although he painted portraits occasionally and was also fond of still life, especially floral ones of the Kansas sunflower, the majority of his many works were landscapes that, devoid of much or any human presence, concentrated on the natural formations of the Midwestern and Western topography.
Sandzén was prolific, producing 330 different prints of various media, hundreds of watercolors, countless drawings, including 500 large ones he destroyed when they were no longer useful and 5,655 sketches in the 83 sketchbooks he left behind, and at least 2890 oil paintings.
Perhaps as many as 55 percent of Sandzén’s landscapes are Kansas imagery, and it is clear that he developed a deep fondness for the gentle plains, rolling hills, low bluffs, and stream beds of the state, even after he began summering in Colorado and painting more dramatic scenes like the Rocky Mountains or, occasionally, the Grand Canyon.
