Carl Eldh
Encyclopedia
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
artist and sculptor. Full name: Carl Johan Eldh (signs on artwork as "C.J. ELDH"). Older brother to Albert Eldh.
Eldh was born in Östhammar Municipality
Östhammar Municipality
Östhammar Municipality is a municipality in Uppsala County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Östhammar....
, Uppland
Uppland
Uppland is a historical province or landskap on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea...
, the son of a blacksmith. From 1897 through 1904 he studied sculpture at the Académie Colarossi
Académie Colarossi
The Académie Colarossi is an art school founded by the Italian sculptor Filippo Colarossi. First located on the Île de la Cité, it moved in the 1870s to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the VIe arrondissement of Paris, France....
in Paris, where the French sculptor Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
inspired him greatly. His first works were characterized by softer forms, but by 1916 he had developed a powerful realistic style, as with the Strindberg Monument in Tegnérlunden
Tegnérlunden
Tegnérlunden is a park at the border of city districts Norrmalm and Vasastaden in Stockholm. It was originally erected 1890, but was re-constructed in 1940. It is home to statues of two Swedish authors. On a hill in the parks's eastern part stands Carl Eldh's massive statue of August Strindberg,...
in Stockholm. Strindberg was a frequent subject for Eldh.
Carl Milles
Carl Milles was a Swedish sculptor, best known for his fountains. He was married to artist Olga Milles and brother to Ruth Milles and half brother to the architect Evert Milles...
with the most popular Swedish sculptors of the first half of the 20th Century. Eldh also produced architectural sculpture with renowned Swedish architects, among them Ivar Tengbom
Ivar Tengbom
Ivar Justus Tengbom was a Swedish architect and one of the best-known representatives of the Swedish neo-classical architecture of the 1910s and 1920s....
, Erik Lallerstedt and Ragnar Östberg
Ragnar Östberg
Ragnar Östberg was a Swedish architect who is most famous for designing Stockholm City Hall. He is the most famous architect within the so-called "national romanticist" movement in Sweden...
. Östberg designed Eldh's own studio in Bellevue Park, in the north of Stockholm, in 1918. And through Östberg, Eldh received the 1923 contract for park sculptures for the Stadshuspark.
Adjacent to Stockholm City Hall
Stockholm City Hall
Stockholm City Hall is the building of the Municipal Council for the City of Stockholm in Sweden. It stands on the eastern tip of Kungsholmen island, next to Riddarfjärden's northern shore and facing the islands of Riddarholmen and Södermalm. It houses offices and conference rooms as well as...
, between the building and the shore of Lake Mälaren's shore, the park stands with Eldh's ensemble representing the three artists, August Strindberg
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
for Authors, Gustaf Fröding
Gustaf Fröding
Gustaf Fröding was a Swedish poet and writer, born in Alster outside Karlstad in Värmland. The family moved to Kristinehamn in the year 1867. He later studied at Uppsala University and worked as a journalist in Karlstad....
for Poets, and Ernst Josephson
Ernst Josephson
Ernst Josephson was a Swedish painter from a prominent Jewish family, whose main work was done on portraits and paintings of folk life....
for Painters, as well as Eldh's bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
sculptures "Sången" and "Dansen" ("The Song" and "The Dance"). The nakedness of the statues initially caused strong protests.
Eldh’s major public works include the grand statue of Strindberg
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
and the Branting Monument
The Branting Monument
The Branting Monument is a monument in Stockholm, Sweden, with a statue of the Swedish Social Democratic leader Hjalmar Branting . The monument is 5 meters tall and 6 meters wide....
, also in Stockholm, which was first executed in plaster around 1930 and completed in 1952.
The Carl Eldh studio in Bellevue
Bellevue (Stockholm)
Bellevue is a park in northern Stockholm and part of the Ekoparken. Located in Bellevue is the studio of the famous sculptor Carl Eldh , today a museum: "Carl Eldh Ateljémuseum". There is also a statue of August Strindberg by Carl Eldh in the park....
is now a public museum, "Carl Eldh Ateljémuseum", with two studio rooms stocked from floor to ceiling with drawings, sculptures, tools and other personal belongings. A visit reflects not on the creative activity of an individual sculptor, but allows direct study of his era.