Åke Andersson 1922-1988
Åke Wilhelm Andersson (ÅWA) was born in Strängnäs, eastern Sweden in 1922.
Anderssons father died when he was a child. He attended the local grammar school were he met and became (life-long) friends with the writer and poet Bo Setterlind (1923-1999) and the artist and sculptor Kaj Piehl (1921-2000).
Andersson attended Isaac Grünewalds art school (1942-1946) before travelling and living abroad (mostly in France and Spain). When he returned to Sweden he lived in Stockholm briefly before moving back to Strängnäs and the Södermanland landscape he loved so much.
The Swedish painter Olle Bonniér (b.1925) remembers how, when his colleagues at the Artists' Club (Konstnärsklubben) tried to label Anderssons painting style, he told them he wanted to be known as a free painter.
Note: The Artist Club (Konstnärsklubben) is a social organization for male artists, architects and art historians. Their premises are at the House of Artists in Stockholm. The association was founded in 1856 by Johan Christopher Flourish (1817-1880).
Anderssons wife was called Inga. Andersson was also an accomplished jazz pianist.
Andersson had a joint exhibition with the Swedish painter Hans Walter Sundberg (1922-2004) at Galerie Bleue, Stockholm in 1966.
In November 1988, Andersson died suddely while on a trip to Altea (near Alicante), Spain with his friend Kaj Piehl. He was 66 years old.
Examples of Anderssons work can be seen at the Moderna Museet (Museum of Modern Art) in Stockholm, the Malmö and Eskilstuna Museums, Stockholm City Arts Council, Sörmlands museum and the Swedish Embassy in Cairo.