The twentieth century was characterized by an obsession with the impulse to be “modern.” New times demanded new ideologies and models of social organization that in turn stimulated new forms of art, architecture, photography, film, and design. This beautiful book examines how modernity was expressed in Sweden during the twentieth century. More than two hundred illustrations document the work of artists, photographers, industrialists, designers, and architects whose ideas and practices, rooted within modernism and the modern movement, became a part of the vital heritage for which Sweden is still renowned.
The contributors to the volume discuss the impulses behind modernism, the concepts attached to it, and its expression in a variety of media. They consider the work of those artists who at the beginning of the century ventured out to the great European centers, Paris and Berlin, as well as those who stayed at home to depict a society in transition. They also look closely at the work of architects who shaped Swedish functionalism, of designers who created new consumer goods, industrial designs, and unique objects, and of photographers who added their own unique perspectives to the changes in the modern world.
Susan Weber Soros
Preface
David Elliot and Nitte Nygren
1.
Prophets and Neniers: The Idea of Modernity in Swedish Tradition
Sverker Sorlin
Scripts
Peter Cornell
Utopia and Reality: Aspects of Modernism in Swedish Visual Art During the First Half of the Twentieth Century
Cecilia Widenheim
Modernism and Public Art
Per Hedstrom
Turnpikes and Blind Alleys: Modernism from the Perspective of the Provinces
Jeff Werner
Differencing Modernism: Swedish Women Artists in Early Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde Culture
Shulamith Behr
The Technologies of Modernism
Sven-Olov Wallenstein
The Wish Museum: The Art Museum and Modernism
Gertrud Sandqvist
2.
The Roots of Modernism in Swedish Architecture
Eva Eriksson
Utopia of the Everyday: Swedish and Un-Swedish in the Architecture of Functionalistism
Eva Rudberg
The Architecture in Focus During the First Half of the Twentieth-Century
Bjorn Linn
3.
Design for Modern People
Cilla Robach
The Last Modernist: The Rise of Industrial Designers as a Profession
Gustaf Rosell
Tradition and Innovation in Swedish Graphic Design
Marie-Louise Bowallius
4.
“You’ve Got to be Modernistic”: Photographers’ Way to a Modernistic Attitude
Leif Wigh
Fine Grain and Brave Angles: Modernism in Swedish Photography as Reflected in the Photographic Press
Niclas Ostlind
5.
‘This Modern Establishment called the Movies’: Modernity and Modernism in Swedish Feature Film
Bo Florin
Film as Art- A Modernist Movement
Henrik Orrje
Happy Transitions: On the Encounters between Art, Music, Dance, Poetry, and Stage in the Era of Modernism
Soren Engblom
Biographies
Bibliography
List of Exhibited Works
Index
Teaches at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London
Marie-Louise Bowallius
Lecturer in Design History, specializing in Graphic Design
Peter Cornell
Professor of Modern Art Theory and the History of Ideas at the Royal University College of Fine Arts
Soren Engblom
Curator at Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Eva Eriksson
Teaches Architectural History at Stockholm University
Bo Florin
Researcher in Film Studies at Stockholm University
Per Hedstrom
Curator at the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
Bjorn Linn
Professor Emeritus in Architectural Theory and History at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg
Henrik Orrje
Administrator of the Swedish Institute’s programme for International Cultural Exchange
Cilla Robach
Curator of the Applied Arts Collection of the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm
Gustaf Rosell
Civil Engineer
Eva Rudberg
Architect, Senior Lecturer in Architectural History, and a researcher at the Museum of Architecture in Stockholm
Gertrud Sandqvist
Rector at the Malmo Art Academy
Sverker Sorlin
Expert on the History of Ideas and Professor of Environmental History at Umea University
Sven-Olov Wallenstein
Philosopher, Art Critic, and Editor of the art journal Material
Jeff Werner
Lectures in Art History at Gotland University
Cecilia Widenheim
Curator of Swedish and Scandinavian painting and sculpture at Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Niclas Ostlind
Curator at Liljevalchs konsthall, Stockholm
