B. J. O. Nordfeldt

Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt (1878-1955)

Nordfeldt was from Sweden, studied in Paris, traveled extensively in Europe and experienced first hand impressionism, expressionism and fauvist innovations. He lived in Santa Fe for twenty years and worked with the Taoist modernists, most notably Andrew Dasburg and his student Raymond Jonson. Cezanne, fauvism, expressionism, and cubism influenced him. He became a noted painter of landscape and a master woodblock artist.

Modernist Painting in New Mexico 1913-1935 by Sharyn Udall

Nordfeldt was in California in 1913 and in New Mexico by late 1918 when his friend Henderson took him to Santa Fe. He made it his home for the next twenty years. During this time he taught and traveled extensively, painting numerous southwest subjects. Nordfeldt made hundreds of charcoal sketches, which he used in his studio to make paintings and prints. In 1914 he taught at Utah State University and painted in Moab. Late in 1937, Nordfeldt moved to Austin and taught at the University of Texas. Nordfeldt established with Andrew Dasburg a Spanish and Indian Trading Co. in Santa Fe. He lived within blocks of Dasburg and was heavily influenced by the Taoist modernist painters.

Nordfeldt was a realist abstract painter of landscape with Cezanne-like paintings of the Indian dance.

Source: Artists of the American West by Doris Dawdy