Venus in glass

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Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm Volumes 24–25

Venus in Glass

Micael Ernstell

Curator, Applied Art and Design

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Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm Volumes 24–25

Foreword

Dr. Susanna Pettersson Director General Associate Professor

Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volumes 24–25, 2017–2018

(An Unpublished Drawing on Panel by Salvator Rosa Depicting a Landscape with a Philosopher and Astrological Symbols, Fig. 6, p. 22).

(A Drawing for Pietro da Cortona’s Rape of the Sabine Women, Fig. 2, p. 28).

(The Entry of Queen Christina into Paris in 1656, by François Chauveau, Fig. 2, p. 32).

© Finnish National Gallery/ Sinebrychoff Art Museum, Helsinki. Photo: Jaakko Lukumaa (Self-Portraits and Artists’ Portraits as Portraits of Friends – A Selection of Paintings and Drawings, Fig. 2, p. 72).

(Spika and Tajt – Alternative Furniture for a Young Generation, Fig. 5, p. 88).

(Henry B. Goodwin – A Visual Artist with the Camera as His Tool, Fig. 2, p. 90).

(Per Krafft the Younger and Belisarius – One of the Foremost Swedish Examples of Neoclassical Painting in the French Style, Figs. 3–4, pp. 113–114).

(Nils Kreuger’s Drafts for the Covers of Bland Franska Bönder (1889) by August Strindberg and Ord och Bild (1897), Fig. 3, p. 138; Acquisitions 2017: Exposé, Fig, 3, p. 178).

(The Nationalmuseum’s New Restaurant – An Artistic Collaboration, Figs. 1, 2, 4, and 5, pp. 149, 150, 152 and 153).

© Wikimedia Commons/ Public Domain (Per Krafft the Younger and Belisarius – One of the Foremost Swedish Examples of Neoclassical Painting in the French Style, Fig 3, p. 112 and In the Breach of Decorum: Painting between Altar and Gallery, Figs. 1–8, 10–12, and 14–18, pp. 155–172).

is published with generous support from the Friends of the Nationalmuseum.

Nationalmuseum collaborates with Svenska Dagbladet, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Grand Hôtel Stockholm, The Wineagency and Nationalmusei Vänner.

Cover Illustration

Étienne Bouhot (1780–1862), View of the Pavillon de Bellechasse on rue Saint-Dominique in Paris, 1823. Oil on canvas, 55.5 x 47 cm. Purchase: the Hedda and N. D. Qvist Fund. Nationalmuseum, NM 7434.

Publisher

Susanna Pettersson, Director General.

Editors

Ludvig Florén, Magnus Olausson and Martin Olin.

Editorial Committee

Ludvig Florén, Carina Fryklund, Eva Lena Karlsson, Audrey Lebioda, Ingrid Lindell, Magnus Olausson, Martin Olin, Cilla Robach and Lidia Westerberg Olofsson.

Photographers

Nationalmuseum Photographic Studio/

Linn Ahlgren, Erik Cornelius, Anna Danielsson, Cecilia Heisser, Per-Åke Persson and Hans Thorwid.

Picture Editors

Ludvig Florén and Rikard Nordström.

Photo Credits

Gabinetto Fotografico delle Gallerie degli Uffizi.

Photo by Pavel Demidov.

(In the Breach of Decorum: Painting between Altar and Gallery, Fig. 9, p. 163).

(In the Breach of Decorum: Painting between Altar and Gallery, Fig. 19, p. 173).

Graphic Design BIGG

Layout Agneta Bervokk

Translation and Language Editing Clare Barnes, Gabriella Berggren, and Martin Naylor.

Publishing

Ludvig Florén, Magnus Olausson, and Martin Olin (Editors) and Ingrid Lindell (Publications Manager).

Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum is published annually and contains articles on the history and theory of art relating to the collections of the Nationalmuseum.

Nationalmuseum Box 16176

SE–103 24 Stockholm, Sweden www.nationalmuseum.se

ISSN 2001-9238

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143 Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volumes 24–25, 2017–2018 ACQUISITIONS/VENUS IN GLASS

Venus in Glass

Micael Ernstell Curator, Applied Art and Design

Fig. 1 Frida Fjellman (b. 1971), Sculpture “Venus in Glass”. Produced by Kosta glasbruk, 2018. Glass, wood, steel, 750 cm (h), 350 kg (weight). Gift of the Friends of the Nationalmuseum, the Bengt Julin Fund. Nationalmuseum, NMK 188/2018.

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144 Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volumes 24–25, 2017–2018

ACQUISITIONS/VENUS IN GLASS

the wooden elements were made by Jonas Fjellman and the argon tubes by Tommy Gustafsschiöld; Linn Sjöstedt worked as an assistant on the project. A film was made of the entire process, commissioned by the Bengt Julin Fund and produced by Staffan Redin.

Frida Fjellman (b. 1971) is experienced in public art in Sweden and abroad, inclu- ding at the Swedish Institute in Paris. She has produced site-specific installations for Art Basel and the Design Miami fair. Frida Fjellman participated in the National- museum’s Stockholmsglas [Stockholm Glass] exhibition in the summer of 2015 at NMDesign in Kulturhuset and, in 2018, her solo exhibition, Crystal Atmosphere, was shown at the Hostler Borrows gallery in New York. Her glass works are spectacular, demonstrating visual and playful develop- ment in the area of tension that exists between the applied and fine arts.

The Bengt Julin Fund allows the museum to achieve a high level of ambition in its acquisitions of contemporary art.

Without the fund, the museum would not have been able to purchase and document Swedish applied arts from the last few decades to such a rich and varied extent.

In October 2018, the Bengt Julin Fund,

part of the Friends of the National- museum, presented a generous gift to Nationalmuseum on its re-opening after several years of renovation work.

This gift is a unique glass sculpture,

Venus in Glass, by Frida Fjellman, one

of Sweden’s leading applied artists. The sculpture is 7.5 metres tall and has 45 different parts – of which 41 are free- blown glass and four are wood. There are also four argon tubes. Its total weight is around 400 kg and the colour scale is mostly pastels, with elements of black and silver.

Totem poles provided the original inspiration. Frida Fjellman says, “How- ever, Venus in Glass is more open-hearted, a welcoming figure that signals courage, modernity and a little madness.” The sculpture owns its place in the room and is somewhat magical. One idea was that the work would contrast with the building’s 19th-century architecture, and for it to function as a guide up or down the new stairway at the rear of the entrance hall.

The project began when the fund’s governing board gave four applied artists a sketch commission. In this, they were to present their ideas for an artwork for the public space in the museum’s entrance hall. After deliberation by the jury, Frida Fjellman’s proposal was chosen for reali- sation during 2018. The extremely difficult glass-blowing was performed by Verkstad 12 at Kosta glasbruk, consisting of Ulf Persson, Johnny Gullberg, Jörgen Erlandsson, Sam Lilja and Göran Palmengren.

Experimentation with new techniques and processes was necessary to be able to realise the sculpture. Among other things, new solutions were needed in order to flare shapes at both ends, and the thick pieces of glass were cooled for three days.

Venus in glass

Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm Volumes 24–25

Venus in Glass

Micael Ernstell

Curator, Applied Art and Design

Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm Volumes 24–25

Foreword

Dr. Susanna Pettersson Director General Associate Professor

Venus in Glass

Micael Ernstell Curator, Applied Art and Design

the wooden elements were made by Jonas Fjellman and the argon tubes by Tommy Gustafsschiöld; Linn Sjöstedt worked as an assistant on the project. A film was made of the entire process, commissioned by the Bengt Julin Fund and produced by Staffan Redin.

The Bengt Julin Fund allows the museum to achieve a high level of ambition in its acquisitions of contemporary art.

Without the fund, the museum would not have been able to purchase and document Swedish applied arts from the last few decades to such a rich and varied extent.

part of the Friends of the National- museum, presented a generous gift to Nationalmuseum on its re-opening after several years of renovation work.

This gift is a unique glass sculpture,

of Sweden’s leading applied artists. The sculpture is 7.5 metres tall and has 45 different parts – of which 41 are free- blown glass and four are wood. There are also four argon tubes. Its total weight is around 400 kg and the colour scale is mostly pastels, with elements of black and silver.

Experimentation with new techniques and processes was necessary to be able to realise the sculpture. Among other things, new solutions were needed in order to flare shapes at both ends, and the thick pieces of glass were cooled for three days.

Many people were involved in work on the

sculpture: sawing and polishing at Kosta

glasbruk was done by Tjocky Patron and

Andreas Dea Andersson; Zoltan Schnierer

was responsible for forging and metalwork;