Rolf Swedberg 1927-2008

Rolf Swedberg was born in Luleå, northern Sweden, in 1927.

He moved to Stockholm in 1946 and studied at the Otte Sköld School of Painting between 1947 and 1948. The school was founded in 1929 by Åke Pernby (1902-1981) and Joseph Otte Sköld (1894-1957). In 1949 it became the Pernbys målarskola (Pernbys painting school). Swedberg also attended the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts (Kungliga Konsthögskolan), Stockholm between 1948 and 1953. Swedberg took study trips to France in 1952 and then Denmark and France in 1955 and 1956.

Swedberg first exhibited in Luleå (1945) alongside Emil Antman and Erik Marklund (1909-1980) - Returning in 1954, 1957, 1959, 1964 and 1966 for solo exhibitions - and was included i 'Unga tecknareĀ’ (Young Illustrators) at the National Museum (1948-1951)

In 1957 Swedberg exhibited at the Färg och Form (Colour and Form) series of exhibitions held in Stockholm (His exhibition dates were 12th - 29th January 1957). Other artists who also took part in these series of exhibitions include Oluf Høst (1884-1966), Knut Hanqvist (1904-1981), Gordon Macfie (1919-1971) and Göran Folcker (1920-2000). He exhibited at Lilla galleriet (The Little Gallery) in 1962, at Galleri Gummesons in 1951 (Gummesons Gallery is one Scandinavia's foremost contemporary art galleries. Launched in 1912 by Carl Gummeson, a local book dealer, it quickly forged a reputation for supporting Modern Art) and at the Stockholm Salons (Stockholmssalongerna) at Liljevalchs Konsthall (in 1959 and 1961)

Other exhibitions include Landskrona (1959), Linköping (1960) with the sculptor Bengt Amundin (1915-2001), Kalix (1962), Västerås (1963) with John Thorgren(1918-2000) and Uddevalla (1965).

Swedberg was head of painting at the Konstskolan Idun Lovén (Idun Lovén Art School) - A preparative art school in Stockholm, Sweden (the school is named after sculptor and former headmaster Idun Lovén) between 1971-1975 and was a guest teacher at the Akademin Valand (Valand Academy), Gothenburg in 1976.

Examples of Swedberg's work are held in the Nationalmuseum (National Museum) and the Moderna Museet (Museum of Modern Art) in Stockholm, the Gripsholm Castle Portrait Collection, the Västerås Museum, the Norrköping Museum and the Norrbotten Museum in Luleå, Sweden. He was a member of the Swedish Artists' National Organisation (Svenska konstnärernas riksorganisation)

Rolf Swedberg died in 2008, aged 81.



Färg och Form (Colour and Shape) Gallery

Färg och Form was an exhibition space in Stockholm where artists were able to sell their works directly to buyers. Establised in 1932 by fourteen painters and sculptors, the original group included Bror Hjorth, Vera Nilsson, Sven Erixson and Gunnar Svenson. The gallery was named after the acclaimed (1913) overview of modern painting by the Swedish writer and critic August Brunius (1879-1926). In April 1935 the gallery was reported to the police for 'the wounding of discipline and morality'. The Gallery closed, after 70 years, in June 2002.

Rolf Swedberg