Swedish Landscape in Fine Art and Tapestry

Illustration: Helmer Jonas Osslund. Varafton Bakom Kiruna.

Swedish tapestry design of the early twentieth century was known at the time as probably some of the best woven artwork being produced in Europe. Much of the narrative and compositional work was based on the landscape and tended to follow what was termed as typical of the Swedish natural environment. Many of the tapestry pieces produced by a range of fine and decorative artists contained the colours, tones and textures that were so much a part of the Swedish identity across so many disciplines, but particularly in textiles. 

Fine art and tapestry during this period enjoyed a particularly close relationship. Swedish artists showed a creative interpretation, but also an innate understanding of colour, tone and texture. The relationship between artist and colour seemed so apparent to many outsiders that it was often seen as an integral part of the Swedish fine art and tapestry scene, so much so that it was often stated that Swedish artists placed '...great weight...on colours and their values.'

It seems fitting therefore to place two illustrations, one fine art and one tapestry, beside each other in the same article. They were not produced by the same artist; the painting is by Helmer Jonas Osslund and the tapestry by Henrik Krogh. However, it perhaps needs to be seen how close fine and tapestry art were considered to be during this period. Tapestry in particular was entering a rich new creative phase of its life in Sweden. Woven textiles had a long and traditional history in Sweden, but it was not until the latter part of the nineteenth century that weaving within the remit of tapestry, really began to be opened up as a contemporary art form. 

Illustration: Henrik Krogh. The Spruce Coppice, c1913.

Both fine art and tapestry became linked with the search for idyllic ruralism and even a search for the untouched wilderness as portrayed by scenes of Sweden's northern provinces. In some respects, both fine and tapestry art were influenced by the Swedish Arts and Crafts movement, which in its turn was initially influenced by the English Arts and Crafts movement. With the late but rapid industrialization of Sweden and the urbanisation of at least part of its population, the search for an idyllic rural life in the 1890s was just as important and illusive as the same search had been in England. However, although rural idylls and utopias always seemed to struggle with the realities and practicalities of industrial Europe, the ideal did fuel the creative arts. So much so that in many respects the Arts and Crafts movement which took place in many European states and regions, and for a variety of differing reasons, produced some of the best in hand produced decorative arts work.

To see fine art and tapestry in tandem with each other, sharing the same inspirational origins and with similar results, allows us to see how closely the two mediums could work together when inspired to do so. Osslund's painting Varafton Bakom Kiruna could well have been commissioned as a tapestry work, and Krogh's The Spruce Coppice could equally have been commissioned as an original fine art piece. Both are beautifully proportioned and use colour and tone to its most dramatic effect. Texture is inbuilt and implied, taking on a creative naturalism that is easily identified with the landscape. Although one composition appears enclosed and insular and the other open and expansive, the colour themes which range from the rich and deep earth tones to the series of greens and yellows that denote foliage, are in some ways so similar that they could be said to be part of the same sense of creative and observational characteristics and they certainly share a part of the Swedish environmental identity.

By showing these two pieces of work it is hoped that it gives some indication of the artistic creativity that came to fruition during the early part of the twentieth century in Sweden. That Sweden had a strong native tradition of creativity, one that is often considered to be perhaps one of the oldest unbroken craft systems in Europe, did not stop native Swedes from allowing a sense of contemporary and expansive creative freedom being added to the traditions of the past. It is this continuation of tradition through the contemporary that has made Swedish art, design and decoration so successful and such an essential part of the decorative and creative arts of our own time. It is perhaps an understanding that tradition does not necessarily entail intransigence and retreat, which should in its turn be seen as perhaps a lifesaving attitude to take when considering those same traditions in other parts of Europe that have and are struggling to survive as part of the contemporary world.

Further reading links:

The Spruce Coppice Tapestry by Henrik Krogh

Illustration: Henrik Krogh. The Spruce Coppice, c1913.

The Spruce Coppice tapestry by Henrik Krogh was featured in a 1913 issue of The Studio magazine. The article dealt with contemporary Swedish tapestry work and included such artists as Gunnar Wennerberg, Nils Lundstrom, Alfred Wallander, Annie Frykholm, Helmer Osslund, Gustaf Fjaestad and Henrik Krogh.

Weaving in general and tapestry in particular have always had strong traditions in Sweden, but it is the work produced during the early twentieth century that gave Swedish tapestry work another dimension and pushed it onto the international stage whereby magazines such as The Studio, Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration and Dekorative Kunst, all of whom had a relatively extensive international following, featured the new Swedish dimension in tapestry.

Krogh's work, as with his contemporaries, showed that a large element of creative freedom had entered into the tapestry discipline. Although most of the work produced during this period in Sweden was very much based on natural landscapes, they are by no means defined picturesque views of the Swedish natural environment. A number of examples were moving into territory that reflected an emotional content, a relationship with the natural world that was not merely visual. Although this was an element that had been explored and regularly included within a fine art context for a number of years, it had been largely missing from a tapestry perspective.

To many, tapestry was not a fine art but a decorative one. It was still considered by critics at the end of the nineteenth century, to be an extension of practical weaving rather than a fully formed discipline in its own right. Although largely part of hand production, rather than the mechanised, tapestry was often merely used as another medium to reflect fine art work. For example, Edward Burne-Jones tapestry work was often a variation of already produced fine art work, or was transposed onto tapestry from the cartoon work of the artist, often without fully understanding the physical and technical details of the discipline.

This is where the Swedish contemporary interpretations of the early twentieth century diverged. By understanding the indepth procedures involved in the making of a tapestry, but also the physical parameters of the medium, compositions began to take on a different, more instinctual bearing. Krogh's tapestry in particular was designed but not woven by the artist. It was actually woven by Marta Maas-Fjetterstrom, one of Sweden's most accomplished and dynamic weavers and designers. It would not be too strong a point to say that the input of the weaver can be just as relevant to the finished piece as that of the original artist. However, with a transposed piece of artwork, the result is very much a facsimile, and tries hard to be as specific to the original as can possibly be achieved in a woven format.

Much of the design work produced for the new Swedish tapestry work of the early twentieth century appeared much less focused, more abstract and therefore more fluid in its interpretation. Krogh's piece for example does not try to hide the fact that it is woven. It bears the varied marks of human hand work with a boldness and surety that reflects the creativity and individualism of both the artist and the weaver. If both designations have to be performed by separate individuals, and sometimes tapestries were woven by the artist, both have come together in an extraordinarily fine example. 

The creative synergy developed between Krogh and Maas-Fjetterstrom works so well that the piece appears both flawless and integral. The Spruce Coppice shows what can be achieved through a sympathetic understanding of the process of tapestry by the artist, but also the perception by the weaver of the artist's original conception. When this relationship between artist and maker works well it works very well indeed.

Further reading links:
SWEDISH TEXTILE ART: Traditional Marriage Weavings from Scania (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Swedish Textile Art)
The Big Book of Weaving: Handweaving in the Swedish Tradition: Techniques, Patterns, Designs and Materials
The Treasure Chest of Swedish Weaving
Weave Structures The Swedish Way - Volume 1
Swedish Textile Art
Tapestry Weaving: A Comprehensive Study Guide
Tapestry Handbook: The Next Generation (Schiffer Books)
Tapestry: A Woven Narrative
Demons, Yarns and Tales: Tapestries by Contemporary Artists
Gloria F. Ross and Modern Tapestry
Contemporary Tapestries From the Hurschler Collection

Maja Sjostrom Tapestry

Illustration: Maja Sjostrom. Tapestry design, c1905.

This excellent example of early twentieth century Swedish tapestry design was produced by Maja Sjostrom in about 1905. Sjostrom produced various forms of woven textile and tapestry work over more than a twenty year period in Sweden itself, before moving to Italy in 1924. Along with work of a more personal nature she was also involved in publicly commissioned pieces that included textile work produced for the Council Hall within the Stockholm City Hall building which was started in 1911 but not completed until 1923.

Sjostrom was involved with, and was a firm supporter of the Handarbetets Vanner movement in Sweden, which was a form of textile hand craft support founded in 1874 very much with similar ideals to the various European Arts & Crafts movements. It is still very much in existence today supporting textile hand crafted work, along with their makers through a series of various support methods including an educational training course.

The tapestry shown here is typical of Swedish work produced during the period which runs from the very beginning of the twentieth century up to and including the First World War in which Sweden remained neutral. Superficially the work does have certain similarities to aspects of the international Art Nouveau movement, a shallow stylised graphic dimension and an emphasis on ambience and manner, rather than observational detail. These similarities at least draws attention to aspects of the huge output of illustrative and graphic work produced across Europe during this period. 

However, this piece, along with a high proportion of tapestry work produced during this period across the entire Scandinavian region from Finland to Norway, has definite and some would say even a defined nature to the stylised compositional landscapes, many set within woods, glades and lakes. It would appear that this defined style separates Swedish tapestry work in particular but Scandinavian in general, from the rest of Europe, making Sjostrom's work part of a unique understanding and interpretation of her immediate natural environment that was obviously such an important part of the Scandinavian makeup.

The natural world is reflected in a different form from that say of the English Arts & Crafts movement, which relied very much on an intimate observation of nature. William Morris produced prodigious amounts of textile work showing the tranquil details of English flora and fauna, and even tapestry work tended towards an intimacy with nature. Sjostrom's tapestry piece on the other hand, very much gives the impression of the mystery of the natural world. A world fuelled by spirits and myths that was a rich compositional and narrative theme across the entire Scandinavian region and was the subject of many tapestry pieces before, during and after this period.

These landscape compositions are also imbued with traditional Swedish interpretations of both nature and woven textiles themselves. In some respect artists and designers such as Sjostrom, were continuing the traditions of weave and craft that were seen very much at the time, as they are today, as part of a continuing cultural heritage that not only had to be preserved, but kept alive by integrating textile crafts within the contemporary world. To be able to reflect the ambience of that contemporary world without losing the identity that the traditional methods produced is a very fine balance and very difficult to achieve. That Sweden, with artists and designers like Maja Sjostrom, were able to achieve this balance, producing work that was relatively harmonious, appearing as if a natural progression of Swedish tradition, which in fact it was, is a testament to the many talented textile artists produced by Sweden during this period.

Further reading links:
Handarbetets vanner och konstnarerna (Liljevalchs katalog) (Swedish Edition)
Swedish Textile Art
33 Contemporary Swedish Weaving Patterns for Monk's Cloth
The Big Book of Weaving: Handweaving in the Swedish Tradition: Techniques, Patterns, Designs and Materials
Swedish Weaving/Huck Embroidery Designs Book 2
SWEDISH TEXTILE ART: Traditional Marriage Weavings from Scania (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Swedish Textile Art)
Swedish Weaving,
The Treasure Chest of Swedish Weaving
Swedish Hand Weaving
Weave Structures The Swedish Way - Volume 1
Dress Your Loom The Swedish Way an In-depth Study of Time Honored Techniques
Glimakra Emilia Rigid Heddle 13" Swedish Table Weaving Loom