Carl Köhler was an artist with an intense relationship to classical music, and it was a constant presence in his life. The exhibit, “Images of Dance and Sound” features images embodying music, dance and literature, which where the sources of inspiration, feeling, power and movement in his paintings.
It was the body, possibly more then people themselves that Carl Köhler was particularly devoted to and which spawned the most creativity in his later works. With a modernistic tradition as his starting-point, Köhler reduced and abstracted bodily forms, thereby bringing them to a new level. His masterful technique and expression are equally extraordinary in his paintings as in his assemblage works, in which he stapled pieces of cloth or glued other materials to various types of surfaces. Often succeeded a determinedly vital, tactile outer structure.
He experimented gladly with different expressions and engineers. He got inspired to his motives by theater, musical, dance and literature. Detailed portraits of authors occupy an unique position in his production. In the exhibition portraits performed in oil, acrylic, drawings and graphic, of both Swedish and international authors.
Scholarships
Swedish State traveling scholarship 1951, Royal Fund.
France state scholarship
Norwegian state scholarship
British & Canada Councils Scholarship
Stockholm’s Cultural-scholarship
William Nording scholarship (Swedish Art Academy) 1989 and 1992
The Committee of figurative Painters; Travelling and Project- contribution 1987, 1989 and Work-scholarship 1990, 1996
Swedish Painters Society 2005 (2 different scholarships). The last scholarship Carl Köhler got at 86 years old, with the motivation Powerful Painting in Constant Progress.
Around 5 more scholarships from different city’s in Sweden
Museums
National Museum and Modern museum, Stockholm
Swedish State Portraits-collection Gripsholm Royal Castle
Swedish State collection of Swedish Modern Art. Central Post building, Stockholm
Dansmuseum, Stockholm
Gothenburgs Art Museum
Hälsingelands Museum
Smålands Art-archive Värnamo
CultuurCentrum for Sweden and Finland. Hanaholmen, Helsinki
Voksenåsen, Cultur-Centrum, Oslo
US & Canadian Exhibitions
Dallas Public Central Library 2013 (Author portraits-reproductions)
Houston Public Central Library 2014
Exhibitions in Sweden
August Strindberg Museum Sep 2008 – Jan 2009
The Swedish Art-house (Konstnärshuset) in Stockholm City, the big gallery 2000-2004.
Paintings and Drawings of “August Strindberg”, Strindberg Museum, Stockholm 1987
1950 meet 1980, Art Museum, Eskilstuna 1988
The Stockholm Dance House 2001
Gallery Gummesons, Stockholm 1983, 1985, 1988
Gallery Aveny, Gothenburg 1987, 1998
Gallery Ronnquist & Ronnquist Malmoe 2007
Gallery Voksenåsen, Oslo 1998
Hanaholmen Swedish-Finn Culture Center 1989
The Irish Cultural Centre (ICC) in Hammersmith, London has just announced the acquisition of three significant pieces of art, portraits of Samuel Beckett, James Joyce and Brendan Behan. Unusually for the centre, which has been exhibiting the work of Irish artists since its foundation in 1995, these portraits are by the Swedish artist Carl Köhler.
