Birger Sandzén on Art, Music and Transcendence

Birger Sandzén was one of the greatest of the Swedish-American immigrant artists. This books studies Sandzén as author in the Swedish and American press. It brings to life a brief Swedish cultural Camelot in America at the beginning of the last century.

James M. Kaplan searches for Birger Sandzén and finds him in the texts that the artist wrote during his life in Lindsborg and on trips in Sweden, Mexico, and the USA. Sandzén describes his memories in a vivid and exciting first person narrative. Often he is very lyrical in his depictions of nature, a poet who never got enough of the landscape he sought. It is unusual for an artist to also use words as his medium, making his text a wonderful complement to his images.

Kaplan's analysis of Sandzén's literary work gives a deep, original and revelatory interpretation of his art.