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B.J.O. NORDFELDT
Pioneers of the PROVINCETOWN PRINT
By | Bill Evaul
Bror Julius Olsen Nordfeldt (1878-1955), or “Nord” as he was known to his friends, was just 13 when he emigrated from Sweden to Chicago in 1891. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and became the assistant to Albert Herter who had a commission to paint murals for the Paris Exposition in 1900. That job took the 21-year-old Nordfeldt to Paris where he continued his studies at the Académie Julian, set up his own studio and took a trip to England to study Moku Hanga – Japanese woodblock printmaking. Already a skilled painter and etcher, he went on to win the Silver Medal at the 1906 International Print Exhibition.
He later worked in Paris until the outbreak of World War I, when he moved to Chicago and then to New York City followed by Provincetown in 1915, where he re-connected with his artist and theater friends. Along with five other artists, Nordfeldt dedicated himself to woodcuts. The group was lively and encouraging. Their individual experience and style drew from a variety of disciplines and they experimented by trying out new ideas and combinations of techniques. Ethel Mars had a two-block system that, no doubt, contributed to Nordfeldt devising the one- block method that we know today as the white-line color woodcut.
Nordfeldt made the most of his time in Provincetown— inventing a new woodcut process, and creating the Provincetown Printers. He helped to form the Provincetown Art Association and ran his own small school for modern painting. He also became a founding member of the Provincetown Players, acting in small parts, painting sets and serving as an inspiration for George Cram “Jig” Cook’s satirical play about the town artists entitled “Change Your Style.”
In 1918, Nordfeldt moved to Sante Fe, New Mexico where he extended his career as a master painter in the modern style and stopped making woodcuts.
