New World Record on a Painting by Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt

The historic saleroom in Copenhagen was filled to the brim as Bruun Rasmussen on a rainy Tuesday auctioned off modern paintings, sculptures and photographic art. A depiction of the Pueblo people's Harvest Dance caused the most excitement of the evening as a new world record rang through the saleroom.

The auction's absolute highlight was the painting "Corn Dance" by Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt (1878-1955). Telephone bids from all over the world flew through the room, and the bidding round ended on a hammer price of DKK 900,000 (€ 157,000 including buyer’s premium) against an estimate of DKK 100,000 (€ 13,500). The former world record of a work by the Swedish-American painter was set in 2015 by Christie's with a price of DKK 364,000 (€ 49,000). The result from Tuesday evening more than doubled this previous record.

"Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt is an artist that we do not see often at our auctions, but we are always pleased when we here in Denmark can auction off international artists at prices that can match, or even surpass, those of major international auction houses such as Christie's. Nordfeldt is in great demand on the international market, and one of our bidders described this particular work as being of a "museum quality", which helps explain the fine result," says Niels Raben, Head of the Department of Modern Art at Bruun Rasmussen.

From Sweden to Chicago

Nordfeldt’s family immigrated to Chicago in 1891. While studying at the Art Institute of Chicago his talents won Nordfelt a trip to Paris in 1900 to further his studies in painting. In Paris, he studied briefly at the Académie Julien. After less than a year he went to England to learn wood-block printing in the Japanese manner. Nordfeldt’s career underwent a number of changes in the half century he was active, and he was influenced by the varied environments he encountered in places such as Sweden, Chicago, Paris, London and New Mexico.

In 1919, Nordfeldt decided to take a one-week trip to Santa Fe, already an established artist colony at the time. The one week turned into an eighteen-year-long love affair, where he continued to find inspiration in the area’s crisp light, bold colours and magical landscapes. Nordfeldt’s first painting in New Mexico was of a buffalo dance and was followed by many other paintings of the Pueblo people, as well as a substantial number of portraits, still lifes and paintings of Native Americans.