Shell

Anna Zimmerman works in the meticulous and time-consuming technique of charcoal on paper. With remarkable precision, she depicts her motifs with clarity of detail and quality of light, as well as reflection, in a greyscale that is absolutely captivating. As mentioned above, the process of creating these precisely rendered images is painstakingly slow – the unforgiving (no room for mistakes) and demanding technique results in a very spare production and is, also, physically taxing. Zimmerman’s talented craftsmanship and choice of subject matter are reminiscent of earlier masters from, for example, the 18th century, where the realism of her contemporary works are sometimes compared to the oeuvre of legendary artists such as Alexander Roslin (1718 – 1793, Swedish painter who worked in Paris, Naples, Parma, Rome, Warsaw and St. Petersburg, primarily for members of aristocratic and royal families. Roslin combined insightful psychological portrayal with a skillful representation of fabrics and jewels). That Zimmerman is in fact inspired by the old masters is confirmed by her own statement, in an interview (‘Anna Zimmerman. Holy Armor’, 24 October 2023) with Pedro Westerdahl (born 1975, Swedish art historian, freelance curator and writer):

In recent years, it has become an increasingly important source of inspiration for me. I think I see parallels between the representational portraits of the 17th and 18th centuries and today’s portrayal of people striving to make a statement or convey status. It reveals something about us as people, I think, that we haven’tchanged much, as we know. It also creates an excitement, or playfulness for me in my creation - to roam freely in the corridor that thus links the 17th century and the present.

Firestorm Foundation acquired Shell at the exhibition‘Holy Armor’ (25 October - 24 November 2023) at CFHILL in Stockholm. Ahead of the exhibition, Zimmerman gave the following background to her choice of technique:

I have a winding road behind me that led my work here. That is, it wasn’t always drawing, but that’s where it started when I was a kid and after dipping my toes in almost everything else, I returned to drawing because that’s where the real joy was. A friend recently pointed out to me that even before charcoal, when I used other media, I always wanted to explore how we perceive the world by carefully dissecting it in one way or another. So maybe that’s what’s happening now too, through imaging. […] I started drawing at an early age when I was a child, and I got quite good at it. The technique itself is basically the same as when I was twelve. Then of course the skills have developed. The technique has always been there in the background while I was working on other things. I lost the desire for art completely a few years ago and found my way back by starting from scratch, with the charcoal. Because the material itself is so uncomplicated - 1 piece of charcoal and 1 piece of paper - yes and some eraser and a cloth, I don’t have to think so much when I work. For example, I don’t have to stop and mix new colours. It’s like the eye and the hand communicate without passing through the brain. So I can work for almost any length of time. 

Zimmerman’s work process does not only include the technical execution of, patiently, applying charcoal to paper. Each individual composition is also the result of another, time-consuming and carefully thought-out, preparatory process in which the artist consciously works with various attributes, often prepared by herself. Zimmerman touches on this in the interview with Pedro Westerdahl:

To shift the focus slightly from the purely technical to the more substantive aspects of your production. The works in the exhibition seem to be characterised by a preference for using physical figures in the compositions? ‘- That is true. I think of them a bit like actors who take on different roles. But in this case, I don’t focus on the actor, but rather on the attributes and props they wear. When I was a teenager, I got a job in a theatre as a seamstress and dresser, just like my mother before I was born, and that’s pretty much where I’ve taken off from in this exhibition. Partly in my personal development in that place during that time and partly in the symbolic world of a costume store. I’m thinking again of that corridor I mentioned, between the 17th century and the present. Many of the clothes and props in my drawings I have sewn and made myself in my studio. It’s sometimes quite a long process too, for example making a huge princess dress with puff sleeves and a lace bodice. It’s part of my process.’

Provenance

CFHILL, Stockholm, Anna Zimmerman ‘Holy Armor’, 25 October - 24 November 2023.

Firestorm Foundation (acquired from the above).

Copyright Firestorm Foundation