Sandzén Chronology
Born:
Blidsberg, Västergötland, Sweden, February 5, 1871.Died: Lindsborg, Kansas, June 19, 1954.
| 1871 | Born in rural parish of Blidsberg, Västergötland, Sweden. The third son of the Reverend Johan Peter and Caroline Elizabeth (Sylvén) Sandzen. Father played violin and wrote poetry. Mother had studied drawing and watercolor. Older brothers: Carl becomes a physician in America and Gustaf Magnus Sandzén a well-known pastor in the Lutheran Church of Sweden. |
| 1877 | Family moves to the parish of Järpås, Västergötland. |
| 1881 | Enters preparatory school at Skara and continues at Skara College, Skara, Sweden. Studies drawing and painting with Olaf Erlandsson (1845-1916). |
| 1890 | Graduates with distinction from Skara College, continues spring studies in watercolors in Västergötland with Regina Kyllberg-Bobeck (1843-1913). In the autumn, enrolls at Lund University, Sweden and takes studies in French and Esthetics for one semester. |
| 1891 | Leaves for Stockholm to seek his career as an artist, takes entrance exams for the Royal Academy but becomes impatient because of the long wait for acceptance. Learns of a class being formed by Anders Zorn (1862-1920) and is accepted into the class which is also taught by Richard Bergh (1858-1919) and Per Hasselberg (1850-1941). Class in Stockholm would become the Konstnärförbundt (Artist's League School) seeking to instruct in realistic forms and color study; drawing and painting of live models; still life and open-air motifs with nature study as a principal emphasis. |
| 1893 | Sandzén expresses keen interest in Sweden's 'Romantic Movement'. Visits Varberg, Sweden, and the studio of Richard Bergh and associates Karl Nordström and Nils Kreuger. Sends off 6 oils to first public exhibition at Gothenburg Art Society. This is followed by 11 more from 1893 to 1948. |
| 1894 | Leaves for Paris to study. Spends 6 months in the studio of
artist Edmond-Francois Aman-Jean (1860-1935). Aman-Jean is a pointillist
Post-Impressionist painter who taught a class along with Georges Seurat (1859- 1891).
Tales by American classmates stirs the idea of traveling to America. Paris period has
a great and lasting impact on Sandzén. During summer goes home to Sweden where a book written by the founding President of Bethany College, Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson (1857-1904) brings about a twelve page letter seeking a position as a teacher. A short reply by telegram from Dr. Swensson: "Come at Once!" Sails from England for America arriving in New York and after a short visit leaves for Chicago where he takes a Rock Island train for McPherson, Kansas. Arrives in McPherson September 4,1894, meets Olof Grafström, Bethany Art Teacher, and travels to Lindsborg by a light wagon drawn by two horses. Greeted by Dr. Swensson at the Main Building on Bethany campus. Begins a career as a teacher at the age of 23 that would number 52 years. Principal assignment during the first year is to teach classes in Swedish and French, assist Olof Grafström in art and assist with vocal music. Meets Alfrida Leksell, an outstanding Bethany College piano student from McPherson. |
| 1897 | 1st of 3 trips to Sweden, traveling with Dr. and Mrs. Carl A. Swensson and three Bethany professors. Olof Grafström leaves Bethany to teach at Augustana College, succeeded by Carl G. Lotave. Sandzén and Lotave were classmates in the studio class of Anders Zorn in Stockholm. |
| 1899 | Organizes, along with G.N. Malm and Carl G. Lotave, first annual exhibition in the United States of Swedish-American art, later known as the Midwest Art Exhibition. Carl G. Lotave leaves for Colorado Springs. Sandzen becomes Chairman of Department of Art. |
| 1900 | Marries Alfrida Leksell, McPherson, Kansas, after 6 year courtship. Builds a house and begins to develop a studio at 421 North First Street in Lindsborg. |
| 1902 | Paints motifs of pure pointillism technique until about 1911. |
| 1904 | Writes MED PENSEL OCH PENNA (WITH PENCIL AND PEN), a collection of stories and folk tales written in Swedish. Father, Johan Peter Sandzén, dies in Sweden. |
| 1905- 1906 | Trip to Sweden with Alfrida, visits Varbergskolsmåeri (Varberg School of Painting) on the West coast of Sweden. |
| 1908 | First trip to Colorado. |
| 1909 | Daughter (and only child) born on June 16, Margareta Elizabeth Sandzén (1909-1993). |
| 1911 | Begins about three decades of exhibitions for the McPherson City Schools. |
| 1913 | Organizes the Smoky Hill Art Club at Bethany College to create a more active interest in art and all its form and to establish a fund to purchase art for the College art collection. |
| 1915 | Finds the beauty of the Southwest and mountains not possible to describe: "What a paradise for the painter." Has first of 25 exhibitions until 1940 at the Kansas City Art Institute. |
| 1916 | Art dealer Carl Smalley of McPherson encourages translation of drawings into prints. (Printmaking begins.) |
| 1917 | Paintings in National Park scenery exhibition at National Gallery of Art. |
| 1918 | Meets Raymond and Vera Jonson on trip to Santa Fe, begins frequent correspondence. |
| 1919 | Vigorous brushwork technique develops. |
| 1920 | One man show at the Washington Art Club, Washington, D.C. on March 4. Founds Delta chapter of Delta Phi Delta, a national honorary art fraternity at Bethany College. |
| 1922 | First New York show at the Babcock Gallery, prints in Wood Block Exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery and an invitation from Victor Higgins to become an associate member of the Taos Society of Artists. |
| 1923 | Teaches summers at Broadmoor Art Academy (later called Colorado Fine Arts Center). In the Smoky Valley, a volume of prints published by Carl J. Smalley. Through a lecture at Bethany College, corresponds with Carl Sandburg. |
| 1924 | Second New York show at the Babcock Gallery. Trip to Sweden with Alfrida and Margaret, visits with Prince Eugene (1865-1947), and Olga and Carl Milles at Lidingö. |
| 1925 | In the Mountains, a volume of prints published by Carl J. Smalley. |
| 1926 | Begins summer trips for 15 years to Estes Park, Colorado. |
| 1927 | Travels to Bryce Canyon and Zion Canyon in Utah and the Grand Canyon of Arizona, as well as Mesa Verde National Park cliff dwellings. |
| 1928 | Begins three summers of teaching painting and drawing at Utah State College at Logan. |
| 1930 | Painting style begins to change to lighter palette, smaller strokes. December 28th, several printmakers meet at Sandzen's studio to organize the Prairie Print Makers Society, which by its end in 1965 has 100 members from states throughout America and Canada. In mid-1930s, as part of the Federal W.P.A. program, paints post office murals for Lindsborg, Halstead and Belleville, Kansas. |
| 1931 | Produces the first gift print for the Prairie Print Makers Society: A Kansas Creek. |
| 1933 | Founds the Prairie Watercolor Painters so that professional watercolorists of the region have an opportunity to exhibit and young members can receive training and encouragement. Has work in the opening exhibition of the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City. |
| 1935 | Carl Milles (1875-1955) presents Little Triton bronze fountain to be placed in garden at the home. It is later moved to courtyard of Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery. Completes a final addition to his studio. |
| 1937 | National honorary president of Delta Phi Delta, and later designated a Laurete member on two occasions. |
| 1938 | Presentation of an oil, Longs Peak, to William Rockhill Nelson
Museum of Art. Post office mural Smoky River installed, Lindsborg, Kansas. |
| 1939 | Post office mural Kansas Stream installed, Belleville, Kansas. |
| 1940 | Honored by Swedish Government, made a Knight of the Royal Order of Vasa, Order of the North Star for promotion of cultural relations between Sweden and the United States. |
| 1941 | Post office mural Where Kit Carson Camped installed, Halstead, Kansas. |
| 1942 | Daughter Margaret marries Charles Pelham Greenough, 3rd. of Boston and Santa Barbara. |
| 1946 | At the age of 75, Sandzen retires from Bethany College. In mid-year, has prints in National Exhibition of Prints at the Library of Congress. |
| 1948 | Family summer trip to Rockport, Massachusetts. New England motifs painted. |
| 1952 | Completes organization with son-in-law, Charles Pelham Greenough of Graphic Work of Birger Sandzén. Later reprinted in two additional editions. |
| 1954 | Sandzén dies in Lindsborg on June 22, at the age of 83, on what was described as a beautiful "Sandzén Day." |
| Early Years | Stockholm & Paris | America |