Bror Anders Wikström

Anders Wikström (April 14, 1854 – April 26, 1909), also known as Bror Anders Wikström, was a Swedish and American artist, costume designer, and art teacher based in New Orleans. He was known for his work designing floats and costumes for Mardi Gras krewes around the turn of the 20th century.

Early life

Wikström was born near Laxå, Örebro, Sweden, to mill manager Anders Wikström and his wife Carolina Roth. He had some training in drawing under Olof Hermelin while at the in Örebro, before graduating in 1869. At age 16, Wikström took to sea, signing on the ship ''Peru''. He spent the next several years on ships carrying guano from South America to Europe.

Wikström studied in the at Gävle to be a sea captain, but his near-sightedness was too great a liability and, rejecting the idea of becoming a shipbuilder, he abandoned life as a sailor.

Over the objections of his family (and his fiancée, who ended their engagement), he enrolled at the Royal Art Academy in Stockholm and then studied in Paris under Rodolphe Julian and Filippo Colarossi, eventually becoming a magazine illustrator. In 1881, he illustrated a magazine article about life at sea, which inspired him to paint seascapes and other marine themed works.

Career

By 1882, Wikström had relocated to the United States, spending about a year in Florida before settling in New Orleans, where he began teaching art classes and, in 1885, co-founding with Andres Molinary and others the Artists' Association of New Orleans.

In 1884, Wikström's ailing neighbor, Charles Briton, a fellow Swede, hired him to assist in designing Carnaval floats and costumes for the Rex Organization. With Briton's death that same year, Wikström was hired as Rex's main designer. He designed the Rex parade for 25 years, as well as Proteus for 10 years. Each parade required about 20 float designs, 100 costumes, and additional drawings for jewelry, masques, slippers, instruments, and other accessories. Because of the lead time needed to create a krewe's floats and costumes, at the time of his death in 1909 Wikström had competed the designs for his final parade, Rex's 1910 "The Freaks of Fable." Julia Massie, one of Wikström's students, managed the completion of his Rex 1910 designs.

From his base in New Orleans, Wikström travelled in the summers through the Caribbean and back to Europe. During these trips he sketched scenes that would serve as the basis for his popular marine and landscape paintings. He also returned to Sweden on these trips, connecting with Swedish artists and painting landscapes.

Death

Wikström died suddenly on April 26, 1909, in New York. He had been in the city working on costumes and floats for the Hudson–Fulton Celebration marking the joint 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson's exploration of the Hudson River and the 100th anniversary of Robert Fulton's paddle steamer. Despite being ill for several weeks with dropsy, he continued work on the project. By his death, Wikström had for completed designs for 60 floats, along with rough designs for another 40.

Gallery

File:Dagligt liv ombord BA Wikström 1882.jpg
File:Fishing boats c Anders Wikstöm.jpg
File:Lighthouse Biloxi MS (c1900) Wikström.png
File:Proteus 1900 Frog Prince Float Wikstrom.jpg
File:The White Cat Proteus Parade 1900.jpg
File:Proteus Fishman Costume 1907 Wikstrom.jpg
File:Proteus19094.jpg

References

External links

Wikström at Louisiana Research Collection at Tulane University's Carnival Collection

Mardi Gras designs by Bror Anders Wikstrom
New Orleans Museum of Art

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wikstrom, Bror Anders
1909 deaths
1854 births
American male painters
19th-century American painters
19th-century American male artists
20th-century American male artists
20th-century American painters
Artists from New Orleans
Swedish emigrants to the United States
People from Laxå Municipality