Considered Sweden's foremost sculptor of the 20th century, Carl Milles produced some of the most popular and enduring bronze works of his era. Born in 1875, he trained in woodworking, cabinetmaking, carving and modelling as a young man.
In 1897 he made what he thought would be a temporary stop in Paris on his way to South America, however he decided to stay and study art, developing his reputation as a sculptor. His early pieces display the influence of Auguste Rodin, for whom he worked occasionally until 1904 when he left Paris for Munich. After travelling through Europe he settled near Stockholm where, in 1917, seeking a more individual style, he destroyed all the works in his studio and began a period of rapid stylistic development and a formation of his mature style, where elegance, motion, and gesture predominated.
Milles enjoyed sculpting in heavy materials such as granite and bronze, pairing them with lighter materials such as water and air by placing them in fountains or raising them up in the air so that they interacted with the sky.
Milles went on to have a spectacular career in the United States where he moved in 1931 after accepting a position as sculptor in residence at the Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum in Detroit, Michigan.
