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Author: Matt_Viinanen, Contributing Editor
| There were exhibitions in Berlin and Venice, the most important of which was his retrospective exhibition in Paris, 1906. It was to be his biggest ever success, and he mentioned this event within his biography:
"“This year brought me great honour. A bunch of admirers of my art brought together a committee for an exhibition of my paintings. There was the heads of the Luxemburg-museum, the Biblioteque National, the director of Beau Arts, Rodin, Besnard and Lepére and the editors for The Figaro and Le Temps, plus some of the greatest collectors in the country. Three large rooms were filled with paintings, one room with etchings and another with sculpture. It was a great artistic success and I could see young striving artist sitting there watching all day long.” |
 | Rodin actually gave Zorn four watercolours as a gift, and Zorn repaid it with a beautiful etching. He had at this time all the commissions he could ever want, and had the luxury of choosing for himself, whom to paint. The list included high ranking members of society, royalty, and government officials. He made five trips to the US in total, which would solidify the making of Zorn’s fortune. He painted three of the presidents: Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft.
Zorn was now a public figure. His name popped up not only in the cultural pages of the papers, but also in the gossip sections. He became known as the wealthy Lord of Painting and also as the greatest of patriots to his origin and homeland. He began reworking his home, the Zorn farm, and ensured it would rise higher than the church of Mora. This was to place his farm as the most monumental building in the area. He also spent a lot of time in Stockholm, Dalarö and other picturesque islands, where he often took his custom built sailing boat “Mejt” out on the water, anchor it in some hidden creek together with a couple of his models, several bottles of vodka, delicacies and of course his equipment. His view on art, his philosophy, was very clearly realistic. He preached the importance of hard work and good craftsmanship. His love for reality and nature, “which I loved so dearly and from whom I wanted to steal its secrets and beauty”, was the driving force of his production. At the beginning of his career he showed little understanding and respect for other artists and their work, but as time went by he went so far as to compare himself with the likes of Rembrandt. It was in nature he found “the great art” and the artistic truths. As it is well known, the progress of seeing and capturing nature is no easy task, but for Zorn it was both liberating as it was easy. "President William H.Taft", oil 1911, dimensions unknown. |
| Nature was found in the circuits of motives that he made his very own and cheating in this area of work could not be tolerated. “Art” came from “knowledge” he often stated and pretty much sums up his theories on art. Nobody today can deny that he certainly lived by this statement.
"“It is an old experience I have, that when people spend time with a superficial insight and touch to art, they easily assume that they themselves have an artistic talent and that their regular jobs all the sudden becomes unworthy of their presence. We have many cheaters out there, enough to close every institution of mass production of such. The foundation and presumption of art is knowing and staying humble toward nature and life” |
| He wrote the above text in 1910, aiming at the art schools of the country. He said they cause more damage than good, due to their lack of professionalism.
Zorn had the idea that he was in touch with the spirit of the people; possibly a rather naive idea. This might have been true when it came to Mora, and the nearby villages. He held as proof of his insight, that the ignorant masses always loved his paintings, and that was the strength and life of his work. In 1905 he had a new studio built, in the middle of a great spruce forest, at its highest point, called “Gopsmor”. It was a very simple, primitive establishment and lacking in luxuries. Indeed it was a wildlife studio, built like a log cabin at the feet of the great river “Dalälven”, with the hills and forest surrounding him. Here Zorn would work, spend time alone, or in the company of close friends and models. This was his little time machine, as he kept everything authentic with his childhood. The knives and forks were carved out of wood, where he would eat only simple foods during his first fifteen years, and would sleep naked between sheep-skin rugs. He cleaned himself and bathed in the river, no matter what season. His interest for his background made him spend a substantial amount of his fortune to preserve old buildings and places typical for that society. He restored pretty much an entire village, and gave away money to local craftsmen. Whenever he found old, dilapidated buildings from the eighteenth century he would take them home, rebuild them and place them somewhere on his land. |
| Zorn’s relationship to women is certainly of a central importance in his life and art. You could say he viewed women in three ways: – as a creature of sex, a wife and a mother.
"“I have always loved women, and often closed up on her with attentions not always angel-like. It has generally been so, that whenever a brush and a palette were placed in my hands, the artist took control over the man. And the man’s curiosity, this teaser of eroticisms, was satisfied only by viewing the nude female body”. |
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