Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt Art

Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Bror Julius Olsson “B.J.O.” Nordfeldt (1878 – 1955) Bror Julius Olsson was born in Tullstrop, Sweden in 1878. He immigrated to the United States in 1891, later adopting his mother’s maiden name of Nordfeldt. Beginning his art studies at the Art Institute of Chicago where he was chosen to assist fellow artist, Albert Herter, with a large mural project for the McCormick Harvester Company. In 1900, he was sent to Paris by McCormick to help set up the completed mural at the Paris Exposition. While there, he studied briefly at the Academie Julian before traveling to England to study woodblock printmaking under F. Morley Fletcher. Returning to Chicago in 1903, Nordfeldt would spend the next ten years painting mainly figurative works in an academic style similar to that of the Old Masters. By the mid-teens he had developed a bold dramatic modernist style and divided his time between New York and Provincetown, Massachusetts. There, he invented the “Provincetown Print...

B. J. O. NORDFELDT (Bror Julius Olsson) 1878-1955) THE BRIDGE, 1906 Color woodcut signed, dated 1906 and numbered 150 in pencil. Image 8 x 10 - small margins as issued. 4 corners tipped to acid free support board. Nordfelt is one of the most important early twentieth century American Masters of the Color woodcut. This 1906 work predates many of the other woodcut masters. Nordfeldt had a peculiar numbering system. The number is not necessarily the edition number. Frances H. Gearhart, Blanche Lazzell, William S. Rice, Gustave Baumann, Margaret Patterson, Norma Basset Hall. Waldo Chase.

B.J.O. Nordfeldt, 'St. Paul's Church' (St. Pauls' Chapel), etching, edition not stated, c. 1915. Signed in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, with skillfully controlled plate tone, printed on off-white, antique, laid paper; the full sheet with margins (5/8 to 2 1/4 inches), in very good condition. Scarce. Matted to museum standards, unframed. An impression of this work is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. ABOUT THE ARTIST A solo exhibition of Nordfeldt’s etchings and woodcuts was presented by the Smithsonian Institution in 1926. In 1920, Nordfeldt had a one-man show at the Chicago Arts Club. In 1926, he won the bronze medal at the sesquicentennial exposition in Philadelphia and the Logan Medal at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1927, he won the first annual prize from the Brooklyn Society of Etchers, and the following year he won first prize from the Chicago Society of Etchers. In 1929, Nordfeldt had a one-man show at the Denver Art Museum. Nordfeldt's work is held in numerous museum collections including Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Ft. Worth; Anschutz Collection, Denver; Art Institute of Chicago; Biblioteque d’Art et d’Archeologie, Paris; British Museum, London; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Los Angeles County Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe; National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; National Gallery, Sydney, Australia; Phillips Collection, Washington, DC. ABOUT ST. PAUL'S CHAPEL St. Paul's Chapel, nicknamed "The Little Chapel That Stood", is an Episcopal chapel located at 209 Broadway, between Fulton Street and Vesey Street, in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1766, it is the oldest surviving church building in Manhattan, and one of the nation's finest examples of Late Georgian church architecture. It is a New York City Landmark and a National Historic Landmark. The Hearts of Oak, a militia unit organized early in the American Revolutionary War, and composed in part of King's College (later, Columbia University) students, would drill in the Chapel's yard before classes nearby. Alexander Hamilton was an officer of this unit. The chapel survived the Great New York City Fire of 1776 when a quarter of New York City (then confined to the lower tip of Manhattan), including Trinity Church, burned following the British capture of the city after the Battle of Long Island during the American Revolutionary War. George Washington, along with members of the United States Congress, worshipped at St. Paul's Chapel on his Inauguration Day, April 30, 1789. Washington also attended services at St. Paul's during the two years New York City was the country's capital. Above Washington's pew is an 18th-century oil painting of the Great Seal of the United States, adopted in 1782. The rear of St. Paul's Chapel faces Church Street, opposite the east side of the World Trade Center site. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, which led to the collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, St. Paul's Chapel served as a place of rest and refuge for recovery workers at the WTC site. For eight months, hundreds of volunteers worked 12-hour shifts around the clock, serving meals, making beds, counseling and praying with firefighters, construction workers, police, and others. Massage therapists, chiropractors, podiatrists, and musicians also tended to their needs. The church survived without even a broken window. Church history declares it was spared by a miracle sycamore on the northwest corner of the property that was hit by debris. The tree's root has been preserved in a bronze memorial...

Nordfeldt's misty and moody monochromatic modernist landscape is reminiscent of Marsden Hartley. Signed lower right. The plaque reads B.J.O Nordfeldt "Moon in Mist - The painting l...

B.J.O. NORDFELDT (Swedish/American 1878 – 1955) (WINDMILL AND WORKERS). c.1900. Color pastel on colored paper, unsigned. 22 ¼ x 15”. Sheet: 24 ½ x 18 ¼”. In 1900 Nordfeldt studied ...

B.J.O. Nordfeldt, 'Broad Street (Wall Street)', etching, edition not stated, c. 1915. Signed in pencil. A superb impression, with rich burr, selectively wiped plate tone, and inky plate edges, on cream wove paper; the full sheet with margins (3/4 to 1 1/4 inches), in excellent condition. Printed by the artist. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Impressions of this work are in the permanent collections of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Princeton University, Smithsonian American Art Museum. A view looking down Broad Street past the New York Stock Exchange Building on the right with the columned Federal Hall...

Signed Lower Right Bror Julius Olsson “B.J.O.” Nordfeldt (1878 - 1955) Bror Julius Olsson was born in Tullstrop, Sweden in 1878. He immigrated to the United States in 1891, later adopting his mother’s maiden name of Nordfeldt. Beginning his art studies at the Art Institute of Chicago where he was chosen to assist fellow artist, Albert Herter, with a large mural project for the McCormick Harvester Company. In 1900, he was sent to Paris by McCormick to help set up the completed mural at the Paris Exposition. While there, he studied briefly at the Academie Julian before traveling to England to study woodblock printmaking under F. Morley Fletcher. Returning to Chicago in 1903, Nordfeldt would spend the next ten years painting mainly figurative works in an academic style similar to that of the Old Masters. By the mid-teens he had developed a bold dramatic modernist style and divided his time between New York and Provincetown, Massachusetts. There, he invented the “Provincetown Print...