MAX WALTER SVANBERG (1912 - 1994)

1912    
Max Walter Svanberg was born on 20 February in Malmö, Sweden.

1929    
Having first wanted to become a violin builder, Svanberg ends up in the advertising studio of the Palladium cinema.
In the evenings, he works in the Technical School’s decoration department.

1931    
Leaves gainful employment for good and starts studying at a school of painting, Skånska Målarskolan, which he leaves in 1932. Meets Gunni Sjöström, his future life partner.

1933    
Applies to the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm but is not admitted. Starts at Otte Sköld’s school of painting.

1934    
During the summer returns to Malmö and contracts polio in the autumn.

1935    
In a group exhibition at Ekström’s the art dealer in Stockholm, Svanberg shows his work for the first time – mainly flower still lifes, but also some paintings displaying more fantasy.

1940    
Marries Gunni.

1943    
Takes part in the Minotaur Group’s exhibition at Malmö Town Hall. Critics in Malmö are sceptical about the group’s manifestation. Shortly after the exhibition, the group disbands.

1945    
January C O Hultén, together with Max Walter Svanberg and Anders Österlin, founds the Imaginist group. Svanberg’s first etchings with the aid of Birger Hammarstedt. Solo exhibition at the art dealer Gummeson’s in Stockholm. The titles of the works include variations on the word imagination. The foreword to the catalogue is written by the author and poet Artur Lundkvist.

1947    
Participates in the exhibition “Swedish Watercolours 1925–1947” at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm. Nationalmuseum buys one work. Writes the foreword to C O Hultén’s frottage collection Dreams from the Hands of Sheets.

1948    
Nationalmuseum in Stockholm acquires the painting Minotaur, now at Moderna Museet. Solo exhibition at Modern Art in a Home eEvironment in Stockholm.
The graphic folder Imaginists is published by Image in Malmö, with a foreword by Ilmar Laaban. Participating artists: C O Hultén, Svanberg, Gösta Kriland, Anders Österlin and Gudrun Åhlberg. Svanberg writes his first declaration on imaginism in the catalogue for the exhibition at God Konst in Gothenburg the following year. Co-exhibitor C O Hultén.

1949    
Participates in the exhibition Scanian Avant-Garde Art at Malmö Museum.

1950    
Image Förlag in Malmö publishes a folder with eight lithographs by Svanberg with a foreword by Steen Colding. In the catalogue for the solo exhibition at Svartbrödraklostret in Lund, Svanberg writes his second declaration on imaginism.

1951    
Svanberg takes part in the Third Tokyo Independent Art Exhibition. Svanberg is presented in Taro Okamoto’s book Avant-Garde. The Imaginists exhibit at Modern Art in a Home Environment in Stockholm and Killberg’s Art Salon in Helsingborg. C O Hultén, Svanberg and Anders Österlin finish the murals for Radiotjänst in Malmö, Djäknegatan 4.

1952    
Svanberg writes in Paletten no. 2. The Imaginists exhibit at Malmö Museum and Göteborgs Konsthall. Victor Brauner, Wifredo Lam and Carl Henning Pedersen participate as guests at both exhibitions, and in Gothenburg Zao Wou-Ki as well.

1953    
The Imaginist group exhibits at the Galerie de Babylone in Paris. The foreword to the catalogue is written by Edouard Jaguer. André Breton sees Svanberg’s art for the first time, and from this year on, the surrealist group in Paris is in constant contact with Svanberg.  Svanberg leaves the Imaginist group.

1954    
Svanberg illustrates the French magazine Medium 3, which begins with André Breton’s text Hommage à Max Walter Svanberg. Makes the documentary film The Love Gift of the Imaginary Picture. Solo exhibition at Modern Art in a Home Environment in Stockholm.

1955    
Svanberg is invited by André Breton to exhibit in his gallery in Paris, A l’Etoile Scellée. Catalogue foreword by André Breton, La Femme de Viking. He is represented in Breton’s Manifestes du Surréalisme. The magazine Phases publishes Ingemar Gustafson’s catalogue essay about the Imaginists, L’Image magique.

1956    
Solo exhibition at the Galerie Colibri, Malmö.

1957    
Represented in André Breton’s L’Art magique. Solo exhibition at God Konst in Gothenburg.

1958    
Malmö Museum buys a central work by Svanberg, The Playbirds of Unreason. Allhems Förlag in Malmö publishes Arthur Rimbaud’s Illuminations translated by Helmer Lång and with illustrations by Svanberg. Participates in the exhibitions Five Painters in Halland Museum and Collage or Fantastic Realities, Konstsalongen Samlaren, Stockholm. Moderna Museet buys the painting Night Heart Flowers.

1959    
Svanberg participates in the exhibition at Galerie Daniel Cordier, Paris, Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme. Solo exhibition at Galerie Raymond Cordier in Paris. Solo exhibition at Galleri 54 in Gothenburg.

1960    
Participates in the international surrealist exhibition at D’Arcy Galleries in New York.

1961    
New solo exhibition at the Galerie Raymond Cordier in Paris. Takes part in the Salon de Mai, Paris, and in Mostra Internazionale del Surrealismo, Galleria Schwarz, Milan.

1962    
Major solo exhibition at Lunds Konsthall and Galleri Färg och Form, Stockholm.

1964    
Visits Paris for the first time, in connection with the opening of the Salon de Mai. Together with Lasse Söderberg and Ragnar von Holten, meets André Breton for the first time. Participates in a surrealist exhibition at the Galerie Charpentier arranged by Patrick Waldberg. Exhibits the suite of collages The Strange Star’s Tribute to G. in Ten Phases at Norrköpings Konstmuseum. Presented in the international issue of Paletten. Participates in a travelling exhibition in the USA arranged by the Swedish Institute and the Smithsonian Institution. The surrealist magazine La Brèche in Paris publishes poems by Svanberg translated by Janie and Lasse Söderberg, with illustrations by Svanberg.

1965    
Svanberg together with Eric Grate and Ulf Rahmberg, represents Sweden at the 8th Bienal in São Paulo, Brazil. Receives the Swedish State’s Artist Award and the Prince Eugen Medal. Participates with Portrait of a Star IV in the international surrealist exhibition at the Galerie L’Oeil in Paris. Kristian Romare’s documentary film Imaginary Portrait made for Swedish Television.

1966    
Solo exhibition at the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

1967    
Lilla Antikvariatet in Malmö publishes Max Walter Svanberg: Grafik/Graphique, a catalogue raisonné with the artist’s entire graphic production.
Participates in the Exposição Surrealista in São Paulo and in Salon de Mai in Paris.
Major retrospective at Konsthallen in Gothenburg.

1968    
Participates together with Olle Baertling, Öyvind Fahlström, Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd and Per-Olof Ultvedt in Pentacle, Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Participates in the exhibition Erotic Art, Lunds Konsthall and Liljevalchs, Stockholm. Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts.

1969    
Participates in Surrealismus in Europa, Baukunst, Cologne. Ragnar von Holten, in the book Surrealismen i svensk konst, gives an in-depth analysis of Svanberg’s art and development. Awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Culture Prize. Awarded the Légion d’honneur by the French President Georges Pompidou.

1970    
Participates in the international exhibition Surrealism?, arranged by José Pierre and Ragnar von Holten, Riksutställningar in collaboration with Moderna Museet and the surrealist group in Paris. The exhibition is shown at Moderna Museet, Konsthallen in Gothenburg, Malmö Museum and Sundsvall Museum. Set design and costumes for Molière’s Le Misanthrope, performed at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. Solo exhibition at Färg och Form, Stockholm.

1971    
Appointed Knight of the Order of Vasa.

1972    
Participates in Swedish Art 1972 in Japan. Solo exhibition at Malmö Museum.

1975    
The book Max Walter Svanberg et le règne féminin is published by José Pierre, Musée de poche, Paris.

1976    
Publication of the book Max Walter Svanberg, Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, Tokyo.

1979    
Major solo exhibition at Malmö Konsthall.

1982    
Gunni dies. Solo exhibition at Malmö Museum. The book Max Walter Svanberg och förvandlingen by Helmer Lång is published by Settern.

1983    
Solo exhibitions at Uppsala Konsthall and Borås Konstmuseum.

1984    
Solo exhibition at the County Museum in Gävle.

1988    
Exhibition at Malmö Museum with Max Walter, Bo Walter and Rosemary Svanberg.

1990    
Solo exhibition at the Olle Olsson House, Solna, Stockholm.

1994    
Max Walter Svanberg dies on 28 May.

1995    
Memorial exhibitions: Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, and Malmö Konstmuseum.

2002    
Solo exhibition at Landskrona Konsthall 11 October – 24 November.

2012    
Memorial exhibitions, Max Walter Svanberg 1912–2012, Vandalorum, Värnamo, 4 February – 9 April; Teckningsmuseet, Laholm, 10 March – 6 May; Malmö Art Museum, 10 June – 30 September; and Höganäs Museum 24 November – 30 December.

Represented:     
Tate Modern, London
Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Gallery of Arts, Washington DC
Museo Nacional de Arte Moderno, Mexico City
British Museum, London
AKO Kunststiftelse, Oslo
Canica Art collection, Oslo
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Malmö Museum
Norrköpings Konstmuseum
Hallands Konstmuseum, Halmstad
Göteborgs Konstmuseum
Konstmuseet Gävle
Helsingborg Museum