Lithograph, Impossible figures, Oscar Reutersvärd, Sweden

Description

Lithograph, Impossible figures, Oscar Reutersvärd, Sweden

Oscar Reutersvärd, Impossible figures
Lithograph
No. 101/190
Work bearing the artist’s signature and individual number
Work dimensions 51/41
Framed

Oscar Reutersvärd lived from 1915 to 2002. He was a Swedish graphic artist who pioneered the art of 3D drawings in 1934. He created Impossible Figures, which may initially appear feasible but cannot be physically constructed. At first glance, they appear normal, but they cannot be recreated in three dimensions because the perspective is somehow distorted, thereby violating the laws of trigonometry. He is sometimes referred to as the father of the impossible figure. Reutersvärd studied at several art schools. Among others, he was a student of Otte Sköld and Otto G. Carlsund in Stockholm and Paris, and studied under Fernand Léger. In 1953, he became an associate professor at Stockholm University, and in 1964 became a professor of art history and art theory at Lund University. In total, Reutersvärd produced more than 2,500 different drawings. He created not only paintings but also sculptures in which chains and other objects head towards the sky. He created his figures in Indian ink on Japanese rice paper, drawing freehand without a ruler or any other mechanical device. He usually employed Japanese perspective, in which all parallel lines remain parallel and do not meet at points of visual convergence. The unsteady lines created during a ten-hour train journey between Stockholm and Lund are visible in some of his drawings. The prints were often coloured with chalk. His works are exhibited in many museums. Reutersvärd’s achievements were honoured in 1982 with a series of three Swedish postage stamps. The stamps were engraved by Czesław Słania based on Reutersvärd’s watercolours.

The work is in original condition. The frame shows minor signs of use.