Portrait in Leksand, July, 1946 Portrait in Leksand, July, 1946
Portrait in Leksand, July, 1946 Portrait in Leksand, July, 1946
About David Tägtström (1894-1981)
From an early age he studied at various schools before entering the Royal Academy of Arts in Stockholm for three years from 1913. He studied etching under Axel Tallberg, finding he had a real talent for the medium he was soon considered one of Sweden's foremost graphic artists in drypoint engraving. Around 1920 he abandoned the graphic arts to become a portrait painter. Five years later, the award of the Uno Troilis scholarship at the Academy of Arts allowed him to travel to America to hone his craft. On his return to Sweden in the late 1920s he began a long and successful career, painting the great and the good (and possibly also bad) of the Swedish hierarchy. Commissions came from the Swedish parliament, universities, hospitals and all the senior members of the Royal Family. He was elected a member of the Academy of Fine Arts in 1937 and is represented in many Swedish public collections including three portraits in the National Museum and a Princess in the National Portrait Collection at Gripsholm Castle.

Portrait in Leksand, July, 1946

£4,850

"This is I believe what historians would call a ‘mid-career’ work by Tägtström. A very different portrait to much of his public work, this is a more personal, rather affectionate painting. One can feel the nervousness of youth as she sits in what I assume is her first formal portrait. It could be marking a birthday, an eighteenth, and perhaps the simple necklace is a present. Who knows? A nice gentle period portrait painted in 1946 of a young Swedish woman with a kind face and everything to look forward to."

-Matthew Hall

About David Tägtström (1894-1981)
From an early age he studied at various schools before entering the Royal Academy of Arts in Stockholm for three years from 1913. He studied etching under Axel Tallberg, finding he had a real talent for the medium he was soon considered one of Sweden's foremost graphic artists in drypoint engraving. Around 1920 he abandoned the graphic arts to become a portrait painter. Five years later, the award of the Uno Troilis scholarship at the Academy of Arts allowed him to travel to America to hone his craft. On his return to Sweden in the late 1920s he began a long and successful career, painting the great and the good (and possibly also bad) of the Swedish hierarchy. Commissions came from the Swedish parliament, universities, hospitals and all the senior members of the Royal Family. He was elected a member of the Academy of Fine Arts in 1937 and is represented in many Swedish public collections including three portraits in the National Museum and a Princess in the National Portrait Collection at Gripsholm Castle.