Bærtlingfoundation

In memory of
Olle Bærtling

There is one Swedish artist who has made an entirely original contribution to the art of our time, comparable with the foremost masters of modern art history, and that is Olle Bærtling. It is all too easy to use presumptuous words on a matter like this. And yet, I wish to maintain that Bærtling, with his 'open form' and his 'two-dimensional sculptures', is the only Swede-besides Viking Eggeling, whose achievement came to a stop at its very beginning-who has added something unique to the store of forms available to art. His work of the last three decades has an innovative quality and an international range which may be compared - mutatis mutandis - with the finest achievements of scholarly research. It is not by chance that his works have found a place in many universities around the world.

Gunnar Berefelt
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor emeritus of the History of Art at the University of Stockholm

Olle Bærtling
Olle Bærtling
1911 - 1981





DENO 1960 (Prints)
  
Creator of open form

"Invisible wealth is to be found in open form.
It radiates a compressed concentration of highly-charged power that is transformed with suggestive radiant force into infinite space in strong dynamics and unknown dimensions. Art at its most sublime is a hymn of praise to creation, an invisible but ever-present force.
A sense of the infinite, a flight to an invisible destination.
A positive change of man's inner life, a realization of his world of ideas. An intellectualization, a visualization of the positive source of creative power, a visualization of its ethereal beauty."

Olle Bærtling




Sculpture YAYAO 1971
  

     Drawing for TV tower in Abu Dhabi,
from 1978,
based upon the sculpture YAYAO

   
Exhibitions 2008
in collaboration with
Baertling Foundation
   
         

 

The Chinati Foundation
Contemporary art museum
Marfa, Texas
Based upon the ideas of its founder,
Donald Judd
  
Olle Baertling
Paintings 1952-1980
Opening October 10, 2008
To summer 2009		     Olle Baertling
Målningar 1952-1980
Invigning 10 Oktober, 2008
Till sommaren 2009
The Chinati Foundation is pleased to announce a special exhibition by Swedish painter Olle Baertling (1911-1981). Baertling's work is widely recognized in Scandinavia — in 2007-08 a major retrospective of his work was co-organized by the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm — but in the U.S. it is largely unknown, even though Baertling exhibited widely here in the 1960s and '70s. (Donald Judd reviewed Baertling's exhibition at Columbia University in 1964 and later collected his prints.) Chinati's exhibition will include 30 paintings and one sculpture spanning Baertling's career from the early 1950s to 1980 and will be the first solo exhibition of his work in the U.S. in almost 40 years. It will remain on view at the museum in Marfa through May 2009.  

Rabibk Paris, 1956,
oil on canvas,
37.4 x 76.75"


Irgur, 1958
oil on canvas, 36.25 x 76.75"
  

Konstmuseet Chinati i Marfa, Texas, visar en specialutställning av Olle Baertling (1911 - 1981). Baertlings konst är välkänd i Skandinavien - 2007/2008 visades en stor retrospektiv utställning i Oslo och Stockholm, vilken var ett samarbete mellan Nasjonalmuseet i Oslo och Moderna museet i Stockholm - men i USA är han nästa okänd, trots att Baertling hade en rad utställningar där under 1960- och 1970-talen. (Donald Judd recenserade Baertlings utställning i Columbia universitetet 1964 och samlade senare på hans serigrafier.) Utställningen i Chinati, som innehåller 30 målningar och en skulptur, omfattar Baertlings konstnärliga karriär, från början av 1950-talet till 1980. Den kommer att bli hans första soloutställning i USA på mer än 40 år. Utställningen i museet, Marfa, pågår till maj 2009.
 
 

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