LB°18 Exhibitions

ARKIV

Kiruna City Library

Motiv från Abisko (Scene from Abisko), approx 1905, Helmer Osslund, Kiruna municipality art collection

As part of the biennial, two of Helmer Osslund's paintings from Kiruna Municipal Art Collection are exhibited here in the new library. The paintings emanate from the period when Kiruna was founded and displayed here provide a poignant reminder of Kiruna's early history.

The Kiruna municipal art collection began as the private collection of Hjalmar Lundbohm, who served as managing director for the mining enterprise, LKAB. Hjalmar Lundbohm had good connections within the contemporary cultural scene, and enabled many artists’ visits to Norrbotten. One of these was Helmer Osslund, who studied the landscapes of Norrbotten by making excursions from his base in the Swedish Tourist Association’s mountain station. In these vibrant works from Norrbotten, Osslund through his gaze depicts the essence of its majestic, uninhabited wilderness. It is paintings that opens up questions about who claims the land and from whose perspective history is written.