Carl Oscar Borg

Carl Oscar (or Oskar) Borg (March 3, 1879 – May 8, 1947) was a Swedish-born painter who settled in the United States and became known for views of California and the Southwest. He worked as a Southwest and California landscape painter, a poster artist for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, and, in the mid-1920s, as a Hollywood art director.

Biography

Carl Oscar Borg was born into a poor family in Grinstad parish, Dalsland province, Sweden. Oscar Borg moved to London at age 15 to assist portrait and marine artist George Johansen. In 1901, he sailed for the United States.

Borg was a founding member of the Painter's Club of Los Angeles and the California Art Club. Examples of his art are on display at Brigham Young University, Harvard University, Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. A substantial collection of his paintings and prints, as well as large parts of his personal collection, were given to the Världskulturmuseet in Gothenburg and Etnografiska museet in Stockholm, both branches of the Statens museer för världskultur (National Museums of World Culture) in Sweden, as gifts during his lifetime and by his widow.

His work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics.

Personal life Borg was married to Lily Borg Elmberg. He was a member of the National Academy of Design, the National Academy of Art, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and the Salmagundi Club.

Selected works