Skiing Watercolor, Snowscape by Einar Bjerke

Einar Bjerke
[Snowscape with Skier]
Mid 20th Century
Watercolor on paper
Signed lower right
9.75 x 14.25 inches, overall
$475

A man in a blue cap and wearing a backpack skis on the shady side of snowy slope, with mountains in the background. The artist’s name suggests that he may have been Scandinavian; this painting might depict that region. The artist mainly employs a palette of soft browns and violets. The composition roughly bisects the page diagonally, and the eye is drawn away from the figure in the violet shadows to the detailed depiction of the windblown rocky outcropping glowing in the sun beyond.