Eric Grate Swedish sculptor, painter and graphics artist.

Education

Eric Grate studied at the Royal Academy of Arts in Stockholm between 1917 and 1920. Thereafter he undertook study trips to Germany, especially to Munich, and to Italy and Greece. He moved to Paris 1924 and stayed there for ten years. In France he lived in the companionship of a number of other Swedish artists. e.g. Nils Dardel, Isaac Grünewald

Isaac Grünewald

Isaac Grünewald was a Swedish-Jewish expressionist painter born in Stockholm. He was the leading and central name in the first generation of Swedish modernists from 1910 up until his death in 1946, in other words during almost his entire career spanning four decades...

, Sigrid Hjertén

Sigrid Hjertén

Sigrid Hjertén , was a Swedish modernist painter. Hjertén is considered a major figure in Swedish modernism. Periodically she was highly productive and she participated in 106 exhibitions...

, Otto G. Carlsund and Otte Sköld. Between 1941 and 1951 he was a professor at the [Swedish] Royal Academy of Arts.

Grate has been commissioned for at great number of public works of art in Sweden. The most famous one in its time was The Ethymological Woman Theft which was raised outside the premises of the Karolinska Institutet, the Royal Institute of Medicine

Karolinska Institutet

Karolinska institutet is a medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area, Sweden, and one of Europe's largest medical universities...

 at Solna, a suburb of Stockholm, towards the end of the fifties. This was the start of one of the most fierce public debates of arts in Sweden during the 20th century. A majority of the faculty of the Institute protested against the sculpture as indecent and against the ethics of medicine. The controversy was not resolved until a decision by the Swedish Superior Court of Administrative Matters was taken in favour of the sculpture.

Public works of art

• The Urn of the Mines district iron ore 109 cm of height (1921–22), Gothenburg. This Urn has been manufacturerd by Näfvekvarns bruk ([Näfvekvarn Iron Works) in a series and has been purchased by a number of Swedish museums
• Faunfigur, Faun figure (1923), Hotel Liseberg, Gothenburg
• Statues at the Norra Kungstornet Building (1925), Kungsgatan in Stockholm
• Relief above the entrance of the Art Exhibition Building in Falun (1936)
• Folkvisan, The Folk song (1937), Bromma High School in Stockholm, Liseberg Amusement Park in Gothenburg, Bäckängsgymnasiet
  Bäckängsgymnasiet
  Bäckängsgymnasiet is a gymnasium in Borås, Sweden that offers university preparatory programs in the natural and social sciences, art, and the humanities...
  
   in Borås
• Årstiderna, The Seasons limestone (1937–41), Rosenbad (The Government Chancellery), Stockholm
• Folket och tekniken, The People and the Technology, part of a relief in chamotte clay (1937), decoration for the World Exhibition in Paris 1937, Runö Training Centre, Åkersberga
• De fyra vindarna, The Four Winds (1937–41), four reliefs at front of the extension of the City Hall of Gothenburg by Gunnar Asplund
  Gunnar Asplund
  Erik Gunnar Asplund was a Swedish architect, mostly known as a key representative of Nordic Classicism of the 1920s, and during the last decade of his life as a major proponent of the modernist style which made its breakthrough in Sweden at the Stockholm International Exhibition...
  
  
• Badet, The Bath and Nereid two reliefs in terracotta (1943), The City Swimming Hall of Trelleborg
• Sommaren, The Summer or Ung man, Young Man granite 224 cm of height (1944), Lundby, Gothenburg
• Våren, The Spring bronce 125 cm of height (1944), Härlanda, Gothenburg and Museum Park in Alingsås
• Anadyomene (1947–52), Hudiksvall
• Förvandlingarnas brunn, The Fountain of Transformation" granite (1943-55), the Marabou Park in Sundbyberg
• Navigare necesse est bronze 1953, Rödaberg Primary School, Stockholm
• Liggande kvinna, Declining Woman (ca 1954) bronze in a fountain, Västertorp Centre, Stockholm
• Trädet, The Tree (ca 1954) bronze, Västertorp Centre, Stockholm
• Två dansande. Two Dancers (1955), Byttorpskolan (school) in Borås
• Vindarnas grotta, Cave of the Winds (1960-71), outside the City Hall of Västerås
  Västerås
  Västerås is a city in central Sweden, located on the shore of Lake Mälaren in the province Västmanland, some 100 km west of Stockholm...
  
   by Sven Ahlbom
• Monument över Yxman, Monument over an Axe Man bronze 3,5 m of height (raised 1967), Rålambshov Park, Stockholm. A replica in a minor format is situated at Blockhusudden at Djurgården in Stockholm
• Gudinna vid hyperboreiskt hav, Goddess by an Hyperborean Sea granite in a fountain 4 m long (1949-56), City Hall Square in Gävle.
• Entomologiskt kvinnorov, Entomological Raping bronze (1956-58), Royal Institute of Medicine, Solna
• Snäckfågel, Shell Bird bronce 255 cm of height (1960-61), outside Hotel Opalen, Gothenburg and the Central Square in Eslöv
• Silvatica bronze, the Esplanade in Nässjö
• Nike från Sant Andria, Nike from Sant Andria bronze 206 cm of height (1967-68), outside the Public Library in Norrköping
• Sparvguden, The God of Sparrows (1972-73), Eric Grate´s Park outside the City Hall of Solna
• Hjärtblad (1974), Cotyledones, outside the Regional Council Head Quarter Building in Kristianstad

More to read (in Swedish)

• Pontus Grate: Under grekisk himmel - Eric Grate och antiken. Under a Greek Sky - Eric Grate and the Antic World. Kristianstad 2005 ISBN 91-7203-722-9
• Pontus Grate och Ragnar von Holten: Eric Grate. Sveriges Allmänna Konstförening nr 87. Uddevalla 1978
• Ragnar von Holten: Surrealismen i svensk konst. Surrealism in Swedih Art. Carlssons Bokförlag, Stockholm 1969
• Ragnar von Holten, Sven Sandström m fl: Eric Grate Skulptur, Eric Grate Sculpture. Kalejdoskop förlag, Malmö 1990 ISBN 91-7936-042-4
• En bok om Eric Grate, A book about Eric Grate. Allhelms, Malmö 1963.

External link (in Swedish)

Eric Grate´s web site