Osvald Sirén (6 April 1879 – 26 June 1966) was a Finnish-born Swedish art historian, whose interests included the art of 18th century Sweden, Renaissance Italy and China.
Biography
Sirén was born in Helsinki. He held the J.A. Berg Professorship of the History and Theory of Art at the University of Stockholm 1908-1923[1] and was Keeper of painting and sculpture at Nationalmuseum 1928–1945. He died in Stockholm, aged 87.
In the area of Chinese art, his major books include Gardens of China, China and Gardens of Europe of the 18th century, Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles, and The Walls and Gates of Peking (1924).
In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Osvald Sirén, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 700+ works in 1,oo+ publications in 12 languages and 8,000+ library holdings.[2]
Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century; over 900 Specimens in Stone, Bronze, Lacquer and Wood, Principally from Northern China (1925)
Les palais imperiaux de Pekin (1926)
A History of Early Chinese Art (1929)
The Chinese on the Art of Painting: Translations and Comments (1936)
A History of Later Chinese Painting (1938)
Gardens of China (1949)
China and Gardens of Europe of the Eighteenth Century (1950)
Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles (1956)
Chinese Sculptures in the von der Heydt Collection (1959)
Notes
^On the J. A. Berg professorship and its holders, see "Professorer i konsthistoria", [appendix] in Britt-Inger Johansson & Hans Pettersson (eds.), 8 kapitel om konsthistoriens historia i Sverige, Stockholm: Rasters förlag, 2000, p. 248-251.
Eriksson, Johan, "Osvald Sirén: Art Historian, Curator and Conoisseur”, Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, vol. I, Nationalmuseum/Hatje Cantz, Stockholm 2015, pp. 278-285.
