Elsa Bjork-Liselius (Swedish, 1915-2007). Medium: watercolor on paper. Artist monogram lower left. Dimensions: 13" x 19 1/2"; framed under glass: 18" x 24 1/2". This highly developed modernist water color by a woman artist is a standout for color, design and bold layers of water color. A confident and capable woman artist, Elsa takes the water color medium beyond the ladies’ 19th century parlor painting to 20th century strong modernist ideology. This composition has strong black shapes juxtaposed against the soft blue shapes layered on top of each other in a dynamic interaction. The tribute to this artist is that she does it in watercolor. Pen & Ink helps to add a rich texture and dimension. Like many women artists, despite this impressive art career her work seems to have fallen into near anonymity in today’s marketplace. Elsa Bjork-Liselius (1915-2007) a Swedish artist who was mainly known for her watercolors and a major public work. Best known as the co- creator of a 30-meter abstract work in Kosta Boda glass and natural stone, Outdoor Symphony, commissioned by the architect Fritz Jaenecke for a public installation in Malmo in 1964, she was a proponent of abstract imagery with forms taken from nature. Elsa Björk-Liselius was an eminent painter of watercolors who received good critical reviews in her lifetime. When she participated in an exhibition in Gothenburg in 1966, her watercolors were described as “quivering color melodies building an idiosyncratically composed chord and airy inversions”. She asserted that there was no reason to use watercolors cautiously. Instead, she spread out her watercolors in thick “disrespectful” layers. She also worked in oils, mainly with imagery taken from nature.

Good

18 x 24.5 in

4 lb