Knut Grane, Conga Brava 15/100, 1969, Lithograph

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“Conga Brava” is a signed and numbered colour lithograph created in 1969 by Swedish artist Knut Grane (1926–2016), one of … Read more “Conga Brava” is a signed and numbered colour lithograph created in 1969 by Swedish artist Knut Grane (1926–2016), one of the artists whose graphic work developed around abstraction, rhythm and a sustained fascination with jazz. This example is signed and dated “Grane 69” in pencil at the lower right, titled “Conga Brava” beneath the image and numbered 15/100 at the lower left.
The composition is built from saturated red, deep green, orange, black and areas of unprinted paper arranged into overlapping circles, arches, bands and irregular geometric forms. Rather than following a rigid geometric structure, the image develops through repetition, interruption and shifting visual accents. The large areas of colour function almost like sections in a musical arrangement, while smaller marks and abrupt changes of direction give the composition a syncopated, improvisational quality.
The title adds an important layer to the work. “Conga Brava” is also the title of a jazz composition associated with Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol, first recorded by the Duke Ellington orchestra in 1940. No documentary statement has been located proving that Grane intended this particular lithograph as a direct tribute to the composition, but the connection is especially compelling in light of his well-documented engagement with jazz throughout his career. Swedish biographical sources describe his work specifically as abstract, rhythmic and jazz-influenced, and jazz subjects repeatedly appeared in his paintings, prints, drawings and exhibition projects.
Born in Gothenburg in 1926, Grane studied at Slöjdföreningens skola in Gothenburg between 1947 and 1950 and continued his training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen in 1950–1951. Over the following decades he exhibited widely in Sweden. His solo exhibition history included Kristianstad Museum in 1968, Höganäs Museum in 1971, Kulturhuset in Stockholm in 1978, Lunds konsthall in 1983, Ystad Konstmuseum in 1986 and Konstnärshuset in Stockholm in 1989, among numerous other venues.
His work is recorded as represented in several Swedish institutional collections, including Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, Göteborgs Konstmuseum and Malmö Museum, as well as museum collections in Helsingborg, Borås, Ystad and Kristianstad. Biographical references also list works in the Count Basie Collection and the Dizzy Gillespie Collection, an unusually fitting connection for an artist whose visual language was so closely tied to jazz.
Dating from 1969, “Conga Brava” belongs to an established period of Grane’s career and combines several of the qualities most associated with his graphic work: strong colour, rhythmic abstraction, bold simplified forms and a visual structure that feels closer to musical phrasing than to conventional geometric order. The lithograph remains in its vintage light-toned frame with a wide neutral mount and glazing. This piece has an attribution mark,
I am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity
issues arising from misattribution See less