27: BIRGER SANDZEN (1871-1954) COLORADO OIL ON CANVAS

Birger Sandzen (Kansas, 1871-1954)
Study from the Rocky Mountain National Park (1922)
This composition of a Rocky Mountain timberline view serves as an excellent example of Birger Sandzen's bold approach to painting during what scholars refer to as his 'Middle Period.'

In many works from this period, paint was applied in short, singular, confident strokes of thick impasto blended to unique, attractive colors. The artistic ability necessary to quickly form a vision, mix a color, apply it to canvas in just the right manner - and do it so proficiently, one stroke at a time to construct a painting like this is quite impressive. Works from this Middle Period have been described as, ''the most dynamic and important of Sandzen's career.'' by the Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery in Lindsborg, KS.

Sandzen spent nearly every summer in Colorado from 1908 through 1952. ''I have been in many places, but there is none which adapts itself any more to my desires than this,'' he said of the Pikes Peak region in 1923.

Signed lower left and listed as number 655 in the Sandzen card catalogue, this painting was first owned by a professor at K-State, before finding its way to a campus fraternity around 1946; and later to storage with the University's Beach Museum for some years. Records in the artist's card catalog archive confirm this painting's title as well.
Canvas measures 16 x 20, the frame is 21.75 x 25.75 inches.
Very good condition. There are no issues of scratches, losses, repairs, re-lining or replacement, no serious in-painting or touch-up, noting an extremely small spot of potential inpainting approximately 1/8 inch in diameter near the right edge appearing under UV light. This could also be other foreign material on the surface.
$40,000 - $50,000