Hans Ekegardh

1881-1962

Active from 1902 active in France. Born 17 January 1881, in Kristianstad; died 14 May 1962, in Paris. Painter.

Figures, nudes, portraits, landscapes, urban landscapes, flowers. From the outset,

Hans Ekegardh showed an aptitude for both music and drawing. At the age of 15 he entered the Stockholm music academy, where he trained for 10 years to become a violinist. Between 1901 and 1906, when he was living in Paris, he continued his musical education and undertook tours, as well as beginning to paint.

For guidance he turned to Henri Matisse, whose large colouristic expanses and bold chromatic splendours he admired. Maintaining good relations, Ekegardh salvaged the master's atelier at the Sacré Coeur convent in 1909. However, he did not become his pupil but attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière instead.

On his arrival in France, Hans Ekegarth was particularly impressed by Rubens and Fragonard. He was also drawn to the Impressionists, especially Alfred Sisley and Auguste Renoir.

He sought to convey the play of light through dashing brush stokes. He was passionate about Paris, and painted the Place de la Concorde and the Seine embankment at different times of the day. He also returned to another of his preferred themes - the Three Graces - year after year. Closely involved with all groups of living art, he was fascinated by Othon Friesz's application of colour and by André Derain's succinct classical statements.

As his style of painting opened out, his nudes and portraits became more constructed and rigid. His palette attests to a research of harmony without violence. For Ekegardh, the nude was a chance to bring to the fore an idea of mysterious perfection not devoid of sensuality. He handled women with a depth of understanding that made it seem for the most part as though his models were not posing.

In 1909 he exhibited for the first time in the Salon d'Automne, where he became a member of the selection committee in 1929; he also had a show at the Salon des Indépendants.

In 1910 he married Marguerite Lemaire, who painted under the name of Guy-Lemm, and he exhibited with her in the same salons, notably the Salon des Tuileries, from 1923. He showed his canvases in one-man shows in France, from 1913 in Paris, and also in Sweden - he exhibited in Stockholm in 1922 and 1930, Kristianstad in 1951, Ystad in 1952 and Malmö.

The Musée Bernadotte in Pau dedicated a retrospective to him in 1968.