La première leçon

La première leçon is a, so called, tour de force within the oeuvre of Amanda Sidwall. The painting was, originally,accepted for the Paris Salon in 1882, where it was very well placed and was widely admired. When included in the exhibition Salongsmåleri?! (at Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm, 2016 - 2017), Karin Sidén (born 1961, Swedish art historian, curator, author and director of Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde) also, rightfully, called it ‘Sidwall’s greatest artistic success’ in the catalogue (‘Salongsmåleri?! En introduktion’, article in [Ed.] Anna Meister & Karin Sidén, Salongsmåleri?!, exhibition catalogue, Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm, 2016).

When, a few years later, Firestorm Foundation acquired La première leçon at Stockholms Auktionsverk (in December 2024) the entry for the painting in the auction catalogue gave the following background to the hardships Sidwall faced in Paris whilst working on what would become her masterpiece:

Financial worries were a constant companion; she sometimes shared accommodation with other women artists and complained about modelling costs. To make ends meet, she worked briefly as a drawing teacher at a girls’ boarding school. Her art training continued at the Académie Julian, where she was taught by Tony Robert Fleury. She wrote enthusiastically about her progress: ‘I have made great progress in the last few weeks, my painting has gained tremendously in vigour.’ Fleury encouraged her to exhibit at the Salon, which made her nervous but also inspired her to use the skills she had learnt during her study period in Paris. At the same time, she was aware of the challenges faced by Swedish artists, noting: ‘It takes a long time for a Swede to be recognised.’

A more detailed description (based on one of Sidwall’s letters from Paris) of the painting itself was given in conjunction with the celebrated 1988 exhibition De drogo till Paris. Nordiska konstnärinnor på 1880-talet at Liljevalchs Konsthall (Liljevalchs Public Art Gallery) in Stockholm, where Marita Lindgren-Fridell (1910 - 1997, Swedish art historian) wrotethe following in the exhibition catalogue:

The next large salon painting was produced in 1882. This ‘grande machine’, ‘The First Lesson’, was bought by the wholesaler August Rhöss in Gothenburg. Amanda, in a letter dated 6 Dec 1881, gives a detailed description of her composition, on which she worked extremely hard. After the fire in the department store ‘Le Printemps’, she had bought a number of silk pieces that were suitable for different parts of the painting, and in her letters she consults her mother about bonnets and other costume details. ‘Slightly to the right of the centre of the painting is a little girl about seven years old. She is standing on the hot stone, and is about to read her first homework, which does not work at all but draws the ridicule and attention of the 3rd figures. On the far left of the painting, a young girl is sitting with her book and questioning, her back is turned to the spectator and the profile of her face disappears, but you can see the direction of her gaze, or rather her eyebrows, towards the little girl. On the other side of the table, or just behind the little girl, there is another young girl sitting at her knitting sock, from which she is watching the little one with a very shy glance, paying particular attention to her stumbling homework. She turns her head completely round to face the spectator. Later, to the right of the painting, a girl of about 9 stands in profile, also with her hands clasped like the little one’s, and in the next moment answer the question put to her, but for the moment she too participates in the fate of the little scapegoat by looking down at her. The little child is turned ¾ with body and head. The highest light falls on the little girl and the girl who looks up from her stocking. The girl with the book gets the light from behind, has a beautiful hair sharply lit but the profile and hand in shadow against a light background. Fleury advised me to use costumes from my country, so the girls are wearing Swedish peasant clothes with white sleeves, and the one knitting a light blue bonnet with a large bow at the back, which gives a piquant effect. The painting will be called ‘La première lecon’.

La première leçon comes with an interesting, and impressive, provenance. Soon after it was exhibited at the 1882 Salon in Paris it was acquired by the wealthy Swedish businessman and patron August Röhss (1836 - 1904). Röhss took a lively part in the municipal life of his hometown Gothenburg and made himself known as an important patron of the arts and academia. On 28 July 1901, Röhss donated SEK 350,000 (the equivalent of nearly 2,000,000 Euro today) to Gothenburg University for professorships in economics, sociology, geography and political science. Before that, in 1894, the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm had received SEK 50,000 (c. 300,000 Euro today) from its honorary member August Röhss for the completion of the Academy’s new building. Röhss was recognised with the Academy’s gold medal, which was presented in Gothenburg by the professor, Baron Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (1832 – 1901, Finland-Swedish aristocrat, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer. Member of the Parliament of Sweden as well as the Swedish Royal Academy. Nordenskiöld led the Vega Expedition along the northern coast of Eurasia in 1878–1879; the first complete crossing of the Northeast Passage. Initially a troubled enterprise, the successful expedition is considered to be among the highest achievements in the history of Swedish science). At the end of 1894, Röhss had also donated money to purchase all the furnishings for the Gothenburg Old People’s Home at Slottsskogen. To all of this could be added that Röhss donated large sums to the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, the Gothenburg Art Society and the Röhsska Museum of Arts and Crafts, Gothenburg.

Before being acquired by Firestorm Foundation La première leçon belonged to the much loved Swedish artist Lasse Berghagen (1945 – 2023, singer, musician, composer/songwriter, comedian and actor), who, amongst other things, recorded over twenty albums and represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975 with the song ‘Jennie, Jennie’. Between 1994 and 2003, Berghagen presented the live music SVT (Swedish national public television broadcaster) show Allsång på Skansen. The show increased in popularity during his time as a presenter, going from 600,000 viewers weekly to over 2,000,000 during his run.

La première leçon hung in pride of place in Berghagen’s living room, in Stockholm, and he never tired of proudly showing it to whoever was a guest in his home.

Signed and dated: ‘A. Sidwall 1882’.

Provenance

Wholesaler August Rhöss, Gothenburg, Sweden (acquired directly from the artist in 1882).

Mrs. Margit Elander, Hovås, Sweden.

Bukowskis, Stockholm, Sale 498, Internationella Jubileumsauktionen, 29 November 1995, lot 133.

Mr. Lars Berghagen, Stockholm (acquired at the above sale).

Lars Berghagen’s deceased estate.

Stockholms Auktionsverk, Stockholm, Klassiska & Asiatiska, 10-11 December 2024.

Firestorm Foundation (acquired from the above sale).

Exhibitions

The Salon, Paris, 1882, no. 2465.

Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Minnesutställning över Amanda Sidwall 1844 - 1892 (Memorial Exhibition), 1942, no. 33.

Liljevalchs Konsthall (Liljevalchs Public Art Gallery), Stockholm, De drogo till Paris, 16 September - 6 November 1988, no. 89.

Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm, Salongsmåleri ?!, 17 September 2016 - 22 January 2017, no. 64.

Literature

Mentioned in letter from Amanda Sidwall to Hildur Sidwall, 6 December 1881.

Marita Lindgren-Fridell, Amanda Sidwall, ett konstnärsöde, Konstvärlden Sommarboken, 1943.

Svenskt konstnärslexikon, vol. V, page 132.

(Ed.) Lollo Fogelström & Louise Robbert, De drogo till Paris. Nordiska konstnärinnor på 1880-talet, exhibition catalogue, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, 1988, mentioned p. 104 - 105 and illustrated p. 103.

(Ed.) Anna Meister & Karin Sidén, Salongsmåleri?!, exhibition catalogue, Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm, 2016, mentioned and illustrated full page in colour, p. 21.

Copyright Firestorm Foundation