Lenny Clarhäll had previously been shown separately at Södertälje konsthall with the exhibition Tre spelmän, produced by riksutställningar (see archive text 1988). Lenny Clarhäll – 44 years in Södertälje came about at the suggestion of the then cultural centre manager Anders Lerner. A selection was shown from Clarhäll’s rich production of public sculptures. What was selected for the art gallery was only wooden sculptures, included in a range from 1968 onwards. The press release reads:

44 years in Södertälje should not be seen as a retrospective exhibition. This exhibition is rather one of many in a long career, even if we have chosen to put earlier works against later ones. The selection is made based on the importance of the various works for the author and artist Lenny Clarhäll. In the exhibition, we want to show how the past and the present are part of the same process.

Clarhäll is perhaps the most well-represented public artist in Sweden. Many of his works were borrowed from various parts of the country, institutions as well as private individuals for this exhibition. Some of the works Clarhäll himself found in the nooks and crannies of his home and studio in Hölö, and he also created new ones for the exhibition.

For most people in Södertälje, Lenny Clarhäll is probably best known for the sculpture group Skogen (The Forest), which was specially commissioned for the staircase in the newly built library in Luna. The year was 1978. Since 2017 it is placed at the city hall.

At that time, the train stopped in Hölö. It took 55 minutes to get to Stockholm and the newspaper district in Klara. “The houses in eastern Södermanland in the 1930s was not just a couple of authors’ temporary summer fun; they came to mean a literary epoch, surrounded by myths and legends. ” This is what Carl Olov Sommar writes in his biography of Gunnar Ekelöf, who lived for a long time in Hölö. I myself came much later to this idyllic and hardly count myself to this tradition, but I am stimulated by the closeness to nature, and the surrounding landscape gives me peace of mind. But I am also dependent on the proximity to Stockholm and feel the need to travel a few times a year to get new impressions. I now report at Södertälje konsthall my 44 years as an artist. I have made a selection of works that have been in the public eye for a long time. Others I have looked for in my own hiding places. Something is new. Now they are standing there in the art gallery. It can be an exciting meeting.

A warm welcome to Södertälje konsthall!

Lenny Clarhäll, Hölö 2012.