Rune Hagberg – “Composition”, 1960’s – Ink on paper, laid down on board, original frame, museumglass

This original artwork was painted by Rune Hagberg in the mid 1960’s. The artist used  ink painted on paper. The paper sheet was then laid down on board. The white painted pinewood frame is original from to the artwork. We changed the glass and added museumglass to give the work UV protection and reduce glaring.

Rune Hagberg monogrammed  the work “RH” in conté / pencil bottom-right.

About Rune Hagberg

Rune Hagberg (Uppsala, Sweden 1924 – Härnösand, Sweden 2015) was a self-taught Swedish painter, writer and sculptor regarded as one of the leading figures in what is known as spontaneity and informal painting.

He was born in Uppsala in 1924, son of a railway official Sven Hagberg and Ceres Ruthström. in the late 1940’s Hagberg participated in exhibitions, wrote his first articles in the mid-1950s and was invited to exhibit in Japan as early as 1955 by a group of painters and calligraphers there.

Hagberg’s meditative Informalism is positioned between Concretism and Expressionism of the 1950s. His work reflects a persistent and consistent exploration of silence and enclosure. In his practice, he approached these states through a range of techniques rooted in painting and drawing. Deeply influenced by Zen Buddhism and the calligraphic trends of his time, he initially worked with ink on paper in large-scale works during the 1950’s.

Eventually, Hagberg’s practice came to focus on a gradual loosening of the picture surface, a kind of elimination of the sheet of paper, as if to approach the idea of nothingness. This exploration later found expression in sculptural objects.

Rune Hagberg has had a long series of exhibitions in his home country Sweden and abroad and is represented at the Magasin III Museum for Contemporary Art, Stockholm, Moderna Museet, Stockholm and Göteborgs Konstmuseum, among others.