Bror Anders Wikström

Not to be confused with the Swedish footballer Anders Wikström.
Anders Wikström
Born(1854-04-14)April 14, 1854
Laxå, Örebro, Sweden
DiedApril 26, 1909(1909-04-26) (aged 55)
New York City, U.S.
Resting placeMetairie Cemetery

Anders Wikström (April 14, 1854 – April 26, 1909), also known as Bror Anders Wikström, was a Swedish and American artist, costume designer, and art teacher based in New Orleans. He was known for his work designing floats and costumes for Mardi Gras krewes around the turn of the 20th century.

Early life

Wikström was born near Laxå, Örebro, Sweden, to mill manager Anders Wikström and his wife Carolina Roth. He had some training in drawing under Olof Hermelin while at the Karolinska Institut [sv] in Örebro, before graduating in 1869. At age 16, Wikström took to sea, signing on the ship Peru. He spent the next several years on ships carrying guano from South America to Europe.[1]

Wikström studied in the navigation school [sv] at Gävle to be a sea captain, but his near-sightedness was too great a liability and, rejecting the idea of becoming a shipbuilder, he abandoned life as a sailor.[1]

Over the objections of his family (and his fiancée, who ended their engagement),[1] he enrolled at the Royal Art Academy in Stockholm and then studied in Paris under Rodolphe Julian and Filippo Colarossi, eventually becoming a magazine illustrator. In 1881, he illustrated a magazine article about life at sea, which inspired him to paint seascapes and other marine themed works.[2]

Career

By 1882, Wikström had relocated to the United States, spending about a year in Florida before settling in New Orleans, where he began teaching art classes and, in 1885, co-founding with Andres Molinary and others the Artists' Association of New Orleans.[2]

In 1884, Wikström's ailing neighbor, Charles Briton, a fellow Swede, hired him to assist in designing Carnaval floats and costumes for the Rex Organization. With Briton's death that same year, Wikström was hired as Rex's main designer. He designed the Rex parade for 25 years, as well as Proteus for 10 years. Each parade required about 20 float designs, 100 costumes, and additional drawings for jewelry, masques, slippers, instruments, and other accessories. Because of the lead time needed to create a krewe's floats and costumes, at the time of his death in 1909 Wikström had competed the designs for his final parade, Rex's 1910 "The Freaks of Fable."[3] Julia Massie, one of Wikström's students, managed the completion of his Rex 1910 designs.[4]

From his base in New Orleans, Wikström travelled in the summers through the Caribbean and back to Europe. During these trips he sketched scenes that would serve as the basis for his popular marine and landscape paintings.[5] He also returned to Sweden on these trips, connecting with Swedish artists and painting landscapes.[1]

Death

Wikström died suddenly on April 26, 1909, in New York. He had been in the city working on costumes and floats for the Hudson–Fulton Celebration marking the joint 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson's exploration of the Hudson River and the 100th anniversary of Robert Fulton's paddle steamer. Despite being ill for several weeks with dropsy, he continued work on the project. By his death, Wikström had for completed designs for 60 floats, along with rough designs for another 40.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wetter, Bertil (2020) [1955]. "Anders från Laxå blev karnevalsgeneral i Amerika" [Anders from Laxå became Carnival General in America] (PDF). Vårt Laxå (in Swedish). No. 1. pp. 13–15. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b Bonner, Judith H. (Fall 2023). "Law's Last Days, the Last Island, and Bourbon Street's Jezebel" (PDF). The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly. pp. 22–23. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  3. ^ Schindler, Henri (2001). Mardi Gras Treasures: Float Designs of the Golden Age. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing Co. pp. 56–57. ISBN 1-56554-723-3. Retrieved 2024-07-03 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ "The Feminine Fields". The Times-Democrat. New Orleans, Louisiana. 1909-11-14. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-09-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Dobie, Ann B. (2019-02-05). "Bror Anders Wikstrom". 64 Parishes. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
  6. ^ "Artist Dies at His Easel; B.A. Wikstrom, Designer of Hudson–Fulton Celebration Floats, Passes Away". The New York Times. 1909-04-28. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-09-12 – via TimesMachine.
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