Arvid Knöppel | 1892 - 1970
Arvid Knöppel was the son of the brewery owner and writer Arvid Knöppel and his first wife Maria Cecilia Elsbeth Schultz. During his upbringing in Växjö, Arvid Knöppel spent a lot of time with his father in the woods and fields. The father, who was interested in hunting, was also acquainted with Bruno Liljefors, an artist whom he greatly admired. He trained at Althin's painting school, at the Technical School, at the Art Academy in Stockholm and then in Munich as well as in Italy and Switzerland during the 1920s. He studied sculpture with the sculptor Carl Fagerberg. Arvid Knöppel's motifs were mainly animals. From 1944 until his death in 1970, he lived on his farm Knöppelåsen in Sälboda near Arvika in Värmland, where he had a reserve for Nordic wild animals. He is above all known for animal sculptures and animal drawings. As an animal painter, he was a realist and an impressionist, and it was seldom that he began to stylize his works.
Arvid Knöppel carried out decorations in several churches, in “Norra krematoriet” in Stockholm, as well as in Karlstad crematorium, Borås crematorium and others as well as in Hägerstensåsen's school and also in some public buildings.He painted portraits and figure compositions and made drawings and sculptures of animals, bears, bison, lynx and badgers. He executed portrait busts of the artists, Gustaf Magnusson, Gunnar Torhamn and Gerhard Wihlborg. In later years he also made works in stainless steel. He also worked as a book artist. Arvid Knöppel is the grandfather of the artist Pia Knöppel.
He is represented, among others, at the National Museum.
Deer (1948), bronze, Marabou park in Sundbyberg
Deer (1952), bronze, Lussebäckstorget in Helsingborg (stolen in April 2022) and Kungsparken in Gothenburg
Playing bears (1956), bronze, located at Smedstugugatan 16, Taborsberg, Norrköping
Kid (1960), bronze, located at Djäkneberget, Knäppingsborgsgatan 38, Norrköping
Playing Bears (1961), bronze, the playground at Oslogatan/Århusgatan in Lundby in Gothenburg
animal sculpture at Hägerstensåsen's school in Stockholm
Deer with kid (1962), located in Skarphagen, Klingagatan 1, Norrköping
Hind with kid, bronze, 1963, park at Dalarövägen in Haninge
Lynx (1964), bronze, Nyckelbergsskolan in Köping, Oxhagsvägen in Nyhem in Finspång, Liseberg in Gothenburg and Stadsparken in Borås
Facing lynx, bronze, Sundstatjärn in Karlstad
Kid (1964), bronze, Marieberg School in Karlstad and Norrköping
Slagbjörn (1974), bronze, outside the municipal building, Västra Esplanaden in Växjö
The lynx (set up in 1977), bronze, Värmland nation in Uppsala
Hind with kid, bronze, Arvika
Two bison, bronze, Alphyddan in Nacka
Björnar, Längbrotorg, Örebro (possibly identical to Lekande björnar, see above)
The lynx, bronze, Ulvsunda School, Johannesfredsvägen 45, Ulvsunda, Bromma
Björn, bronze, Loviselundsskolan's large schoolyard in Hässelby gård, Stockholm
Lynx (Lynx with paw up). The lynx is missing its cub, the sculpture was not finished, Arvid Knöppel died before the work was completed. Bronze, erected in 1977 outside Värmland's nation's garden in Uppsala.
