B.J.O. Nordfeldt etchings

B. J. O. Nordfeldt etchings, 1911-1912

By Nordfeldt, Bror Julius Olsson, 1878-1955

Finding Aid for the Collection at the Chicago History Museum, Research Center

By Rebecca Garnaat, 2001; rev. by D. Rinder, 2008

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Main entry: Nordfeldt, Bror Julius Olsson, 1878-1955

Title: B. J. O. Nordfeldt etchings [graphic]

Inclusive dates: 1911-1912

Size: 38 prints : etching; 11 x 14 in. and smaller.

Accession #: 1972.0008-1972.0045

Call #: 1972.0008 PSPC

Restriction: Advance appointment with special permission required to view this material.

Description of the collection:

Etchings of Chicago cityscapes, people and street scenes, workers and industrial sites created by the Swedish American artist Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt while he resided in Chicago, 1911-1912. Topics include the Field Columbian Museum building (which later housed the Museum of Science and Industry), far South Side industrial areas, Illinois Steel Company, a Bessemer Converter, open-hearth furnace, grain elevators; Illinois and Michigan Canal, Calumet River and Chicago River shipping and bridges; Clark Street, Michigan Avenue, the Monroe Building on corner of Michigan Ave. and Monroe St. under construction, Montgomery Ward Tower, The Blackstone, State Street; Logan Monument; Pasquale Scala; Little Italy; Ten-Cent Lodging House; Woodlawn.

Brief biography:

Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt was born in Tullstrop, Skåne, in the South of Sweden in 1878. He adopted his mothers maiden name, Nordfeldt, around 1903 to avoid being confused with Julius Olsson, another painter known throughout Europe and America. In 1891, at the age of thirteen, he immigrated to Chicago with his family. In his first few years in the United States, he worked as a printers devil and also as a compositor for a Chicago Swedish newspaper. Around the age of 20 he began formal art training at the Art Institute of Chicago where he studied under the direction of Frederick Richardson. While studying at the Art Institute, he met Albert Herter. In 1899, Nordfeldt became Herter's assistant and accompanied him to Long Island to work on a mural for the 1900 Paris Exposition. He then traveled on to Paris alone to see the mural in place.

In Paris, Nordfeldt studied at Académie Julien for about two weeks before becoming disenchanted with the school's focus on drawing, whereas his ambition was to paint. In order to extend his stay in Paris Nordfeldt became a private art instructor. But it would be less than one year before he left Paris and traveled to England to learn wood-block printing in the Japanese manner at the Oxford Extension College at Reading. There he studied under Frank Morley Fletcher and produced splendid prints of landscapes, cityscapes and industrial scenes.

Nordfeldt was recognized very early into the 20th Century as a master etcher. He won several awards for his etchings. His romantic renderings of city architecture in a soft-line technique showed the influence of James Whistler in a style made popular by Joseph Pennell. Though Nordfeldt's enthusiasm was for painting, it was the sale of his etchings that provided his income.

Travel and exposure helped influence Nordfeldt's paintings. His early works show muted colors and impressionistic pictures. After traveling Europe, he shifted to a brighter color palette, with contours strongly outlined, showing the influence of Fauvism. His city scenes of Chicago, in fact, were intended to reflect the surging energy found in the city itself. Opinions regarding Nordfeldt's paintings varied, however; at the time (1911-1912) his work was commonly labeled progressive or radical.

During World War I Nordfeldt worked as the assistant district camoufleur for the United States Shipping Board in San Francisco, camouflaging merchant ships. Afterwards, Nordfeldt spent twenty years in New Mexico. There he continued to paint, taking advantage of his surroundings and experimenting with color and composition. In 1925 he put away his etching needle and focused entirely on painting. In 1934 he began to create lithographs as part of the United States Treasury's Public Works Administration project. He continued to teach, paint, and travel over the next twenty years. He died of a heart attack in Henderson, Texas, on April 21, 1955.

For Further Reading:

1. Coke, Van Deren. Nordfeldt the Painter. (Albuquerque; University of New Mexico Press, 1972).

2. Donovan, Fiona and Susan Brown. The Woodblock Prints of B. J. O. Nordfeldt. (Minneapolis; University Art Museum (exhibition catalog), University of Minnesota, 1991).

Provenance statement:

Gift of Mr. And Mrs. Leonard R. Olson, on behalf of Mrs. B.J.O. Nordfeldt and the Olson family (1972.0008-1972.0045).

Storage designation:

PHspec PL1972.0008+ (CS.0V.J1.S2) 1 box: 16 1/2 x 20 1/2 in.

List of online catalog headings:

Nordfeldt, Bror Julius Olsson, 1878-1955

Field Columbian Museum

Tower Building

Blackstone Hotel (Chicago, Ill.)

Buildings--Illinois--Chicago--1910-1919.

Building construction--Illinois--Chicago--1910-1919.

Steel industry--Illinois--Chicago.

Swedish Americans--Illinois--Chicago.

Working class--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.

Chicago River (Ill.)--1910-1919.

Chicago (Ill.)--1910-1919.

Etchings.

Cityscapes.

Container list of box and folder numbers and titles:

Box 1

Folder 1

Five O'clock, Chicago 1911 (PD1972.20)

Field Museum No. 1, Chicago 1911 (PD1972.15)

Coal Shutes [chutes], Chicago 1911 (PD1972.14)

Clark Street, Chicago 1911 (PD1972.13)

Calumet River, South Deering, Chicago 1911 (PD1972.12)

Bubbly Creek, Chicago 1911 (PD1972.11)

Bridge Builders, Chicago 1912 (PD1972.10)

Bessemer Converter, Chicago 1911 (PD1972.9)

Barges on the North Branch, Chicago, 1912 (PD1972.8)

Field Museum No. 2, Chicago 1912 (PD1972.16)

Entrance Field Museum, Chicago 1912 (PD1972.17)

Gas Tank Town, Chicago 1911 (PD1972.18)

Gossips, Chicago 1912 (PD1972.19)

Folder 2

State Street, Chicago 1912 (PD1972.31)

Illinois and Michigan Canal, Chicago 1912 (PD1972.22)

Pasquale Scala, Chicago 1912 (PD1972.29)

Smoke, South Deering, Chicago 1911 (PD1972.30)

Park Row, Chicago 1912 (PD1972.28)

On the Calumet, Chicago 1912 (PD1972.27)

Metropolitan Elevated Bridge 1st St. (PD1972.25)

Logan Monument, Chicago 1912 (PD1972.24)

Little Italy, Chicago 1911 (PD1972.23)

Grain Elevators, South Deering, 1911 (PD1972.21)

The Big Elevator, Chicago 1912 (PD1972.33)

Montgomery-Ward Tower, 1911 (PD1972.26)

The Blackstone, Chicago 1911 (PD1972.32)

Folder 3

Ten-Cent Lodging House, Chicago 1912 (PD1972.41)

Woodlawn, Chicago 1911 (PD1972.45)

The Skeleton (view shows the Monroe Bldg., southwest corner of Michigan Ave and Monroe St., under construction) (PD1972.40)

Chicago 1911 (view is looking northwest on Michigan Ave. from Jackson Blvd.) (PD1972.44)

Michigan Avenue, Chicago 1912 (PD1972.43)

Illinois Steel Co (PD1972.42)

The B. & O. Bridge (PD1972.36)

The Open Hearth Furnace, Chicago 1911 (PD1972.37)

The Two Kites, Chicago 1911 (PD1972.39)

The Coal Crusher (PD1972.34)

The Night Shift (location unknown PD1972.38)

The Little Hub, Chicago 1911 (location unknown PD1972.35)