Squares

The square is as high and wide as a man with his arms stretched out. In the most ancient writings,
and in the rock inscriptions of early man, it signifies the idea of enclosure, of house, of settlement.
Enigmatic in its simplicity, in the monotonous repetition of four equal sides and four equal
angles, it creates a series of interesting figures: a whole groupe of harmonic rectangles, the golden
section, and the logarithmic spiral, which also occurs in nature in the organic growth of plants and
in parts of animals.

With its structural possibilities it has helped artists and architects of all epochs and styles by
giving them a harmonic skeleton on which to build an artistic construction. It is therefore present
in all styles of all people during all periods, both as a structural element and as a surface to support
and determine a particular form of decoration. It is static if it stands on its side and dynamic
if it stands on an angle.
It has given form both to famous ancient cities and to modern buildings: Babylon, Tell el Amarna,
the Parthenon, the Arc of Septimius Severus, the Duomo of Pisa, Palazzo Farnese, Le Corbusier’s
museum of unlimited extendability...

The bays of the portico of Brunelleschi’s Foundling Hospital are square. In the ground-plans
of many churches the square area below is the most logical answer to the hemispherical dome
above, just as a square photograph corresponds, with the minimum distortion or waste, to the
round lens of the camera. Phidias used a square form for his lacunaria. At Olympia, the Palestra,
the Theocoleon, the Leonidaeum and other buildings had square ground plans...

In the Eastern Chin dynasty it gave the Chinese written character its square form. It has given
structure to the letters of our own, of the Hebrew and other alphabets. All over the world, a small
square of linen is a handkerchief. Two squares of matting are the basic unit of the traditional
Japanese house. Twenty-eight squares cover the surface of a brick. According to an old Chinese
saying the infinite is a square without angles. “The square is the purest form of a spatial idea complete
in itself. It represents one of the orders of pregnant spiritual symbolism. All other rectangles
are squares which depart from the norm by the extension of height or width”

Bruno Munari

BIOGRAPHY

Born 1930 in Flen, Sweden.
Lived and worked in Stockholm, Sweden
Passed away 2007.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

1. 1972
   1. Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm
2. 1976
   1. Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm
3. 1978
   1. Norrköpings Museum
4. 1979
   1. Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm
5. 1982
   1. Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm
6. 1984
   1. Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm
7. 1987
   1. Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm
8. 1989
   1. Galleri Tornvall, Forum Hamburg
9. 1989
   1. Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm
10. 1992
    1. Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm
11. 1995
    1. Lidköpings Konsthall
12. 1996
    1. Galerie Aronowitsch, Stockholm
13. 1998
    1. Konsthallen Enköping
14. 1998
    1. Konsthallen Härnösand
15. 1999
    1. Prins Eugens Waldermarsudde, Stockholm
16. 2002
    1. Konstakademien, Stockholm
17. 2002
    1. Nyköpings Museum
18. 2003
    1. Galleri Bergman, Stockholm
19. 2005
    1. Galerie Konstruktiv Tendens, Stockholm

Selected Group Exhibitions

1. 1962
   1. Prix Europe de Peinture Ostende, Belgien
2. 1966
   1. Konstakademien, Water colour and collage, Stockholm
3. 1977
   1. Museo de Arte Moderno, Swedish exhibition arranged by Nunsku Mexico City, Mexico
4. 1978
   1. Kulturhuset, Konstruktivister, Stockholm
5. 1979
   1. Tour Exhibition Swedish graphics, arr. Nunsku USA, Canada
6. 1981
   1. Centre Culturel Suédois, Nils Kölare – Bo Swensson Paris
7. 1981
   1. Liljevalchs konsthall, Konsekvens, hommage to Olle Baertling, Stockholm
8. 1985
   1. Galerie Bleue, Olle Bonniér – Nils Kölare, Stockholm
9. 1985
   1. Norrbottens Museum, Norrut-85, Aschenbrenner, L.G. Lundberg, Kölare and Lyth, Luleå
10. 1986
    1. Härnösands konsthall
11. 1987
    1. Handarbetets vänners exhibition, Japan, USA and Sweden
12. 1988
    1. Galleri Zero, 6 konstruktiva, Albers, Baertling, Karlsson, Kölare, Mortensen and Vasarely, Stockholm
13. 1989–91
    1. Grand Palais, Saga-Salon de l’estampe et de l’edition d’art, Aschenbrenner, Hillfon, Karlsson, Kölare, L.G. Lundberg and Lyth, Paris
14. 1992
    1. Galleri Astley, Art Concret, Seattle USA
15. 1994
    1. Rooseum Malmö
16. 1997
    1. Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Stockholm
17. 1997
    1. Göteborgs konstmuseum
18. 2005
    1. Konsthallen i Hishult, Söderut-05, Aschenbrenner, L.G. Lundberg, Kölare and Lyth

Selected Assignments and Competitions

1. 1979
   1. Mural in hallway SGU:S new building in Uppsala, assigned by Statens Konstråd
2. 1982
   1. Two facade paintings in enamel for officeand industrial buildings in Marievik, Stockholm
3. 1983
   1. 1:a prize in award for entryway in Jönköpings Läns landstings Central Hospital, Ryhov, Jönköping
4. 1984–86
   1. Four paintings in the new Post Office terminal Gothenburg, assigned by Statens Konstråd
5. 1984
   1. Mural in hallway at Igelsta vårdskola, Södertälje
6. 1991
   1. Art for common room, A1/14, Trängcentrum in Linköping assigned by Statens Konstråd
7. 2002
   1. Mural at RestaurangTeatergrillen, Stockholm
8. 2003
   1. Mural, KTH in Stockholm assigned by Statens Konstråd

Public Collections

• Nationalmuseum in Stockholm
• Moderna Museet in Stockholm
• Norrköpings konstmuseum
• Eskilstuna museum
• Gävle museum
• Sundsvalls museum
• Rooseum i Malmö
• Västerås museum
• Private collections