Att välja glömskan eller att bli bortglömd: David Edströms uppgång och fall

Abstract

Summary In the summer of 1915 the Swedish‐American sculptor David Edstrom (1873–1938) returned to the United States after twenty‐one years in Europe. He thereby contributed to his own marginalization. Having succeeded in assuming a prominent position in the European art world in the years after the turn of the century, he removed himself so much from the scene of action that he eventually was more or less forgotten. His trajectory thus moves from a poor childhood in Smaland and Iowa to considerable fame for a decade and a half— he was, for instance, repeatedly compared by well‐known critics to Rodin, Meunier, and Rosso ‐to an increasingly obscure position in Los Angeles. The article traces the marginalization process in the case of David Edstrom, investigating the factors that cause his gradual exclusion from the canon, and it argues that his art, even if never fulfilled its promises, still is of such significance that it should again receive the attention that it deserves. A list of his exhibitions and s...