Gifts from the Bengt Julin Fund in OMNP
Micael Ernstell
Curator, Applied Art and Design
Art Bulletin of
Nationalmuseum
Stockholm
Volume OM
Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum, Stockholm,
is published with generous support from the
Friends of the Nationalmuseum.
The Nationalmuseum collaborates with
Svenska Dagbladet, Fältman & Malmén
and Grand Hôtel Stockholm.
Items in the Acquisitions section are listed
alphabetically by artists’ names, except in the case
of applied arts items, which are listed in order of
their inventory numbers. Measurements are in
centimetres – Height H, Breadth B, Depth D,
Length L, Width W, and Diameter Diam.
– except for those of drawings and prints, which
are given in millimetres.
Cover Illustration
Alexander Roslin (NTNUÓNTVP), The Artist and his
Wife Marie Suzanne Giroust Portraying Henrik
Wilhelm Peill, NTST. Oil on canvas, NPN ñ VUKR cm.
Donated by the Friends of the Nationalmuseum,
Sophia Giesecke Fund, Axel Hirsch Fund
and Mr Stefan Persson and Mrs Denise Persson.
Nationalmuseum, åã TNQNK
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Mikael Ahlund, Magdalena Gram, Janna Herder,
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Photographs
Natinalmuseum Photographic Studio/Linn
Ahlgren, Erik Cornelius, Anna Danielsson,
Cecilia Heisser, Bodil Karlsson, Per-Åke Persson,
Sofia Persson and Hans Thorwid.
Picture Editor
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Photo Credits
© Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig
(p. NQ)
© The Gothenburg Museum of Art/Hossein
Sehatlou (p. NU)
© Malmö Art Museum/Andreas Rasmusson
(p. OO)
© Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York (p. OV)
© RMN Grand Palais/Musée du Louvre,
Paris/Hervé Lewandowski (p. PMF
© The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
(Fig. QI p. PN)
© RMN Grand Palais/Musée du Louvre,
Paris/René-Gabriel Ojéda (Fig. RI p. PN)
© Guilhem Scherf (p. PO)
© Bridgeman/Institute of Arts, Detroit (p. PP)
© Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris/Jean Tholance
(p. PQ)
© RMN Grand Palais/Musée du Louvre, Paris
(p. PR)
© Accademia Nazionale di San Luca,
Rome/Mauro Coen (Figs, SI NM and NO,
pp. NNQÓNNS)
© Mikael Traung (Fig. T, p. NNQ)
© Stockholm City Museum (p. NOP)
http://www.stockholmskallan.se/Soksida/Post/?n
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© Stockholm City Museum/Lennart af
Petersens (p. NOQ)
© http://www.genealogi.se/component/
mtree/soedermanland/eskilstuna/
a_zetherstroem_/22850?Itemid=604 (p. NOR)
© http://www.genealogi.se/component/
mtree/bohuslaen/marstrand/robert-dahlloefsatelier/22851?Itemid=604 (p. NOT)
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Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum is published
annually and contains articles on the history
and theory of art relating to the collections of
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ëÉÓNMP OQ Stockholm, Sweden
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ISSN OMMNJVOPU
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Gifts from the Bengt Julin Fund in OMNP
Micael Ernstell
Curator, Applied Art and Design
_ÉåÖí gìäáå (NVNNÓOMMR) made a generous donation in NVUP establishing the
Bengt Julin Fund, which operates within
the Friends of the Nationalmuseum. The
Fund’s primary purpose is to assist with
the purchase of works of modern applied
art. Since its inception, it has enabled the
Nationalmuseum to maintain a high level
of ambition as regards contemporary acquisitions. Without the Fund, the Museum would have been unable to keep
abreast of developments in this field and
acquire examples of the Swedish applied
art of recent decades.
The Board of the Bengt Julin Fund
has the same composition now as when
the Fund was created, although the individuals involved have changed over the
years. Today, the donor’s family is represented by Rolf Julin. Representatives of
the Friends of the Nationalmuseum are
Ann Westin (chair), Elsebeth WelanderBerggren and, as a co-opted member,
Oscar Magnuson. The Nationalmuseum
itself is represented by Micael Ernstell and
the Friends of a Design Museum (Formmuseets vänner) by Adine Grate.
Fig. N Michael Eden (b. NVRR),
vase, Maelstrom V, OMNN.
Nylon, blue mineral, e PMI i NTKRI t NS cm.
Donated by the Friends of the Nationalmuseum,
Bengt Julin Fund.
Nationalmuseum, åãâ PLOMNPK
QT
Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm Volume OM OMNP
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Fig. O Sylvia Stave (NVMUÓNVVQ), bowl. Produced by C. G. Hallbergs, Stockholm NVPS. Silver, black wood,
e NNI t NQKU cm. Donated by the Friends of the Nationalmuseum, Bengt Julin Fund.
Nationalmuseum, åãâ TPLOMNPK
Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm Volume OM OMNP
QU
The Fund collaborates closely with the
Nationalmuseum in its efforts to acquire
good-quality works of contemporary applied art. It also awards a “Young Applied
Artists” scholarship, candidates for which
are nominated by a jury appointed by the
Board. Since the first award in OMMNI NR
young applied artists have received this
scholarship.
Among the gifts made to the Museum
in OMNP, there were interesting examples of
both contemporary and somewhat older
design. The latter category included three
women designers active in the NVPMs. One
of them, Sylvia Stave (NVMUÓNVVQ), worked
for ten years for the firm of C. G. Hallbergs
Guldsmedsaktiebolag (Fig. O). Apart from
one object acquired in NVPMI the Nationalmuseum did not begin collecting Stave’s
work until OMMT, but has since made several
acquisitions, in particular in OMNP (see separate article on p. QP). The other two, Wilhelmina Wendt (NUVSÓNVUU), who designed for Perstorp AB (Fig. P), and Kitty
von Otter (NVNMÓNVVN), a designer with
Guldsmedsaktiebolaget (Fig. Q), had previously not been represented at all in the Museum’s collections. Their formal idiom indicates that they were closely attuned to
their times. Wendt, moreover, used the
modern plastic isolite in combination with
silver. A feature these three female designers have in common is that they were active
for only a limited period and subsequently
fell into oblivion.
Among contemporary acquisitions, mention should be made of the urn Maelstrom V
from OMNN (Fig. N), by the British designer Michael Eden (b. NVRR). It was bought
from the London art dealer Adrian Sassoon, and is the first object in the Nationalmuseum’s collections that is printed
in PD. The material is nylon, coloured
with a blue mineral coating. Eden’s background is as a conventional ceramic artist,
but from OMMS to OMMU, at the Royal College of Art, he explored new digital technologies for the production of three-dimensional objects. His urn represents an
encounter between craft and digital tech-
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nology, with a shape that alludes to classical forms used in ceramic art since antiquity. The technique of PD-printed objects
is something that has caught the interest
of Swedish design school students in recent years, and we can expect more in this
area in years to come.
Marie-Louise Reinius’s (b. NVQN) embroidered work Academic Paths New
Karolinska is the product of a time-consuming process (Fig. S). Several layers of
silk fabric have been fastened with minimal stitches in silk thread. Reinius makes
preliminary studies for her subjects in collage or watercolours. As the motifs are
slowly transferred to embroidery in her
own very specific technique, a tension arises. This particular piece, showing a plan of
a hospital, brings traditional male, politically centralised and economically demanding architecture face to face with traditionally female and undervalued textile
art. The work is one of several time-consuming objects in a variety of materials acquired by the Nationalmuseum in recent
years and shown in OMNO in the exhibition
Slow Art.
For Stockholm, OMNP was something
of a year of silver, marking the RMth anniversary of the Association for Contemporary Swedish Silver, founded in NVSP
with the Nationalmuseum as one of the
prime movers. It is gratifying, therefore,
that the Bengt Julin Fund has donated
three very exciting examples of Swedish
silver, demonstrating that it remains a vigorous art form capable of presenting new
expressions and techniques.
Åsa Lockner (b. NVTP), in her silver
bowl A Body of Work, offers an example of
her own personal “scribble technique” (Fig.
U). Here, we sense an affinity with the unconventional silversmithing methods of
NVSMs Sweden. Lockner has abandoned traditional tools and implements and found
inspiration in ballpoint scribbles on paper,
where thick ink marks can bring up weals in
the paper. In the same way, she has worked
a thin, circular sheet of silver with a ball
punch. The pressure on the metal, applied
Fig. P Wilhelmina Wendt (NUVSÓNVUU), brush, NVPR. Probably produced by Perstorp AB. Silver, plastic
(Isolit), e U cmI i V cmI t MKT cm. Donated by the Friends of the Nationalmuseum, Bengt Julin Fund.
Nationalmuseum, åãâ TQLOMNPK
Fig. Q Kitty von Otter (NVNM–NVVN), candlesticks. Produced by GAB, Guldsmedsaktiebolaget, Stockholm
NVPTK Silver, black wood, e TI t NN cm. Donated by the Friends of the Nationalmuseum, Bengt Julin
Fund. Nationalmuseum, åãâ TR~ÓÄLOMNP.
QV
Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm Volume OM OMNP
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Fig. R Petronella Eriksson (b. NVSV), jug, Next Time I Will Be a Tree, OMNP. Silver, e OOKRI i NUI t OQ cm. Donated by the Friends of the Nationalmuseum,
Bengt Julin Fund. Nationalmuseum, åãâ QNLOMNPK
Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm Volume OM OMNP
RM
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Fig. T Magnus Liljedahl (b. NVTR), jug, Divisible Object Reminiscent of a Jug,
OMNPK Silver, e OMI i NOI t TKS cm. Donated by the Friends of the
Nationalmuseum, Bengt Julin Fund. Nationalmuseum, åãâ OQTLOMNPK
Fig. S Marie-Louise Reinius (b. NVQN), embroidery, Academic Paths New
Karolinska, OMNO. Silk, gold tread, H PUKRI t PNKR cm. Donated by the Friends
of the Nationalmuseum, Bengt Julin Fund. Nationalmuseum, åãâ OQSLOMNPK
in linear movements, produces the square
bowl shape. The material forms itself. The
bowl was subsequently blanched and left
unpolished on the inside, but polished on
the outside, imparting an exciting contrast
to the object.
Petronella Eriksson’s (b. NVSV) silver
jug seems to tell a story (Fig. R). The body
is in the form of a seed that will hopefully
grow into something big, but which for
now is surrounded and defended by
thorny branches – somewhat dangerous,
yet also protective. The object, called Next
Time I Will Be a Tree, consists of a spherical
vessel with a handle in the shape of
branches. The designer, who previously
worked mainly in a small format, has now
managed the transition to a larger one,
while retaining the balanced proportions
and strong expression characteristic of
her work. For her exhibition with the
same name as the jug, held at the Contemporary Swedish Silver gallery in March
OMNP, Eriksson drew inspiration from the
plant kingdom, in particular from trees
and water lilies.
RN
Divisible Object Reminiscent of a Jug (Fig. TF
was designed in OMNP by the silversmith
Magnus Liljedahl (b. NVTR). In a clear critique of the classical aesthetics of silver,
Liljedahl shapes his objects and leaves
them unfinished in a traditional sense: after blanching, they are left unpolished,
laying bare their construction.
Hollowware, and not least the coffee
pot, has long enjoyed considerable status in
Sweden. With his jugs, Liljedahl is asking
the question: What will become of the classic silver jug or coffe pot, given the contem-
Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm Volume OM OMNP
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Fig. U Åsa Lockner (b. NVTP), bowl, A Body of Work, OMNN. Silver, e VI i PNI t PN cm. Donated by the Friends of the Nationalmuseum, Bengt Julin Fund.
Nationalmuseum, åãâ NTNLOMNPK
porary fascination with automatic espresso
machines? Buying an expensive appliance
does not seem to be a problem, while an
object in silver has greater difficulty attracting customers. Liljedahl is seeking to visualise the issues at stake by designing a series
of jugs that do not work in practical terms.
Their function as works of art, as aesthetic
objects – as sculpture – is underlined. The
principal discussion, though, is about our
material culture and lack of knowledge and
understanding of older craft traditions.
The idea of a dividable object was one
Magnus Liljedahl put forward as early as
OMMV, in his first solo exhibition as a new
Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm Volume OM OMNP
member of the Association for Contemporary Swedish Silver. In that instance, the
objects in question were boxes that could
be divided by pulling a tab, in the same
way as with the Divisible Object Reminiscent of
a Jug, acquired for the Nationalmuseum.
If you opened the box, it ceased to be art
and became two containers that could be
put to practical use. The tab, attached to a
band, that is used to open these objects
bears the hallmarks. Once these marks are
removed from the object, it loses part of its
identity, in that they inform us that this is
silver and tell us about the maker and
when and where the object was made. The
RO
two parts that remain after it is opened are
thus “undressed”. It is up to the owners of
these artworks whether or not they want to
open them, and so far only one has chosen
to do so.