Female Head Study, Signed 1883 Oil on Canvas

Female Head Study signed with monogram and dated 1883 lower right by Axel Kulle (1846–1908). Oil on canvas laid down on panel. Original giltwood frame with relief ornamentation. The present work is a small, carefully executed oil study depicting the head and upper shoulders of a young woman. Her head is turned slightly toward the viewer and a bit tilted towards her shoulder with the face occupying the central part of the composition. Kulle has worked the features with considerable precision, particularly the eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth, while the surrounding areas remain deliberately more loosely handled. The hair is indicated with broad, rapidly applied brushwork, and the lower part of the figure, including the pale blue garment. The dark reddish-brown background is broadly painted with diagonal paint strokes following the angle of the leaning head. This contrast between the highly finished face and the sketch-like treatment of the surrounding areas is characteristic of a study rather than a fully resolved independent composition. The treatment suggests that particular attention was given to the model's head and expression, while the clothing, background and edges were of secondary importance. The work is likely a study for a larger figurative composition. Axel Kulle was born in 1846 and became one of the leading Swedish genre painters of the later 19th century. He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm from 1865 to 1873, receiving a traditional academic training in drawing and painting. After returning briefly to Lund, he travelled to Düsseldorf in 1875, where he studied under the Swedish-born genre painter Ferdinand Fagerlin. Kulle remained in Düsseldorf until 1880 and during these years developed a detailed and carefully observed form of genre painting, often depicting scenes from Swedish rural life. His first important success was the painting "Kyrkråd under överläggning" (Church Council in Deliberation) of 1877. The painting was sent to the Royal Academy's exhibition that year, where it attracted considerable attention, and it was subsequently acquired by the Swedish state for the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. The work established Kulle as a painter of characteristically Swedish genre subjects and demonstrated the detailed figure painting associated with his Düsseldorf training. The Paris years, 1880–1883 A decisive stage in Kulle's artistic development began in 1880, when he received a travel scholarship from the Royal Academy and went to Paris, where he remained until 1883. which is the same year as our painting was executed. Most likely it was painted in Paris. His years in Paris are interestingt in relation to the present 1883 study. In Paris Kulle encountered contemporary French painting and was influenced by the plein-air painters, adopting a stronger and broader manner of painting together with a lighter and clearer color range. His technique consequently became less dependent on the meticulous finish of his Düsseldorf period. At the same time, he did not abandon figure painting or the genre tradition in which he had established his reputation. The 1880´s is probably his best period and his career is going well. The way the present Female Head Study is painted with a distinction between a carefully developed figure or head and more abbreviated surrounding passages is compatible with the working methods he developed with a broader French influenced technique. After returning to Sweden in 1883, Kulle settled in Stockholm and continued to work primarily as a genre painter, while also producing portraits, still lifes and landscapes. His subjects frequently remained connected with Skåne and Swedish rural life, although his Paris experience remained visible in the handling and color also in his later work. During the 1880s Kulle also operated a private painting and drawing school in Stockholm. His continued involvement with the Academy is notable, in 1887 he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts and he was active there until his death in 1908. Kulle's career during the 1880s demonstrates the transition between his Düsseldorf training and the newer French-influenced painting that emerged in Sweden during the decade. Kulle's paintings are represented in several Swedish public collections, including: Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Göteborgs konstmuseum, Malmö Museum, Hallwyll Collection and many others.