Eric Johansson (Dresden 1896– 1979 Lövbruna/ Gard, Sweden)

Portrait of a Young Woman Wearing a Flamboyant Hat

circa 1912

charcoal drawing

46,4 x 35,2 cm

lower right in pencil signed "Eric Johansson"

The Daulton Collection

condition: foxing and somewhat soiled, with creases and handling marks

Discussion:

Eric Johansson, son of Swedish parents, grew up with his foster father Robert Schäfer in Dresden. From 1912-20, he studies at the local academy under Gußmann, Sterl, Zwintscher, Bantzer and von Hofmann. Forms artist friendship with Otto Griebel; both took part in 1923 as active communists at the congress of the International Workers' Aid in Weimar. In 1924, Johansson was one of the organizers of the "1st General German Art Exhibition" in Moscow, Leningrad and Saratov with Otto Nagel; and in the same year he became a member of the "Red Group". As a representative of Verism and New Objectivity, he is considered to be extremely style-defining in taking up contemporary themes and motifs while modifying expressionist means. Even before Hans Grundig, he used woodcuts to precisely describe and evaluate social realities. His oil painting "Factory" was shown in the Dresden exhibition "Degenerate Art" in 1933 and was later confiscated. In 1938, expulsion from Germany and flight to Sweden.