Birger Sandzen: An Illustrated Biography

Sandzen (1871-1954) is a rarity in American art--a Swedish-born modernist trained in Stockholm and Paris, who settled in Kansas and applied a postimpressionist style to prairie scenes, dramatic Rockies mountainscapes and the mystery of southwestern canyons. In an admiring biography illustrated with 49 color plates and 26 black-and-whites, the late Lindquist, former president of Wichita State University, examines Sandzen's deep love of nature, his experiments with pointillism, his travels through Mexico and the American Southwest and his synthesis of such influences as Monet, Cezanne, Van Gogh and the fauves into a style marked by high-key colorism and a strong structural sense. Also presented are Sandzen's lithographs and woodcuts that echo the calligraphic manipulation of form seen in his oils. (May)