Johnny Mattsson - Early pine bowl, 1944

Beautiful pine bowl carved by Swedish woodmaster Johnny Mattsson. Signed JM 44. Measures: 49,5 cm (length), 18 cm (width), 7 cm (height)

John (Johnny) Mattsson, born 18 July 1906 in Gävle, died 9 February 1970 in the same place, was a Swedish sculptor and craftsman.

Polio had made Mattsson lame and through disability support he was given the opportunity to attend the Steneby craft school.In the fall of 1941, he started Gävleslöjd at Södra Kungsgatan 21, where they made candlesticks, table lamps, plates, etc., simple everyday items in wood, all by hand. At the Gävle museum in 1947, he saw a beer goose made in Hälsingland in the 1870s and was inspired by it. His first was quite similar to the museum's, albeit flatter and thinner, with well-balanced proportions and high finish. Over the years, his beer geese took on increasingly extreme forms.

At the end of the 1940s, Johnny Mattsson's works began to receive growing attention in Sweden. Even in Stockholm his work was observed and the signature Rips wrote in Svenska Dagbladet at the end of 1951: "You have to look for a more supreme and immediate feeling for the material. In pear wood, in teak and mahogany, masur and old pine that he took from demolished buildings, he creates visions in wood of such sensitivity in the lines that you are captivated. That to touch his bowls and dishes is a pleasure, for they almost flow into the hand that grasps them."

In the fall of 1951, Johnny Mattsson was visited by Philibert Humbla, county curator at Gävleborg's county museum. He was impressed by what he saw and compared Johnny Mattsson to greats such as Henry Moore, Jean Arp and Constantin Brancusi. In reality, Mattsson had developed his own design language where the material largely determined the form. He considered himself unaffected by time and believed that he probably expressed himself in the same way whenever he lived. After Humble's visit, Johnny Mattsson exhibited at the Gävle museum in May 1952.

The reviews in the national press were very positive and the exhibition made a strong impression on the art and design establishment - it came to be considered Johnny Mattsson's breakthrough. After this followed exhibitions in Stockholm and Gothenburg in 1952-1954, Milano 1954, Sidney 1954, MoMa New York 1955, Tokyo 1957 and so on.