Lot 1173: Bror Anders Wikstrom (Swedish, 1840-1909; active New Orleans 1883-1909) "Florida Coast", 1903, oil on board, 9" x 12", signed and dated lower right "B. A. Wikstrom". Presented in a handsome period giltwood frame. Provenance: Private collection, Palm

Bror Anders Wikstrom (Swedish, 1840-1909; active New Orleans 1883-1909) "Florida Coast", 1903, oil on board, 9" x 12", signed and dated lower right "B. A. Wikstrom". Presented in a handsome period giltwood frame. Provenance: Private collection, Palm Harbor, Florida. Note: The Swedish born Wikstrom was a painter, etcher, designer, illustrator and art teacher. Wikstrom trained at the Stockholm Royal Academy of Fine Arts and later studied at the Academie Julian, Paris. He first came to New Orleans as an illustrator in 1881 and returned here at the time of the 1884-1885 World's Industrial and Cotton Exposition. Known for his marine and landscape paintings, Wikstrom also was the city's most noted designer of pageantry sets for the carnival organizations of Proteus and Rex. He actively supported New Orleans art organizations and along with artists Paul Poincy, Andres Molinary, and Achille Perelli, founded the Artists' Association of New Orleans in 1885 and later served as its president. His mood-rich Southern landscapes, such as this Florida example, have made Wikstrom one of the most esteemed Southern artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.