Anders Zorn
Swedish painter and engraver
Who was Anders Zorn?
Anders Leonard Zorn (18 February 1860 – 22 August 1920) was a Swedish artist who attained international success as a painter, sculptor, and etching artist. Zorn was born and raised on his grandparents' farm in Yvraden, a hamlet near the village of Utmeland in the parish of Mora, Dalarna. He studied until the age of twelve in the school at Mora Strand before progressing in the autumn of 1872 to a secondary grammar school in Enköping. Emma Lamm was from a wealthy Jewish merchant family. His portrait subjects include King Oscar II of Sweden and three American Presidents: Grover Cleveland, William H. Taft, and Theodore Roosevelt. At the end of his life in 1920, he established the Swedish literary Bellman Prize. From 1875 to 1880, Zorn studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm, where he amazed his teachers with his talent.
Members of the Stockholm Society approached him with commissions.
Historical significance
In early 1881, Zorn met Emma Lamm, whose background was quite different from his. She was interested in art and culture and, after a long engagement, they were married in a civil ceremony in October 1885.
