Bror Hjorth (1894-1968) Sweden

Bror Hjorth was a painter, sculptor, sketcher and professor of drawing at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm from 1949 to 1959. After a brief period of study in Copenhagen he became a pupil of the French sculptor Antoine Bourdelle in the early 1920s and spent the rest of that decade in Paris. As a student of Bourdelle, who himself studied with Auguste Rodin, Hjorth deepened his understanding of materials, form and logic and at this stage Cubism became extremely important for his artistic development. Using Cubism as a means of expression, Hjorth demonstrated his ability to handle movement and rhythm, at the same time that he was strongly influenced by Egyptian bas relief and Swedish folk art. Hjorth’s unique expression can be traced to a combination of folk art, where he had his roots, and the new modernist trends of which Cubism was a part. As a painter, his style in the 1920s was expressive and imaginative, with a strong influence from Nordic folk art, while later in life it assumes a more naturalistic character. He is considered to be one of Sweden’s foremost graphic artists and his animal drawings are among the most famous. Hjorth carried out numerous public commissions as a sculptor, among them many works that adorn churches throughout Sweden. He is perhaps best known for the sculpture and fountain “Näckens Polska,” located outside the Uppsala Railway Station.