The first Norwegian Textile Letter bonus interim article is a review of Nina Granlund Sæther’s new book from Trafalgar Press, Nina’s Favorite Mittens and Socks from Around Norway by Nina Granlund Sæther
If you are planning your summer trips, this book might be the perfect place to find a portable travel project. The reviewer, Mary Skoy, enthusiastically ended her review with, “After looking at a knitting book as inspiring as this, I wish I could knit faster.
I recently gave a webinar for Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, The Mystery of the Missing Swans and Maidens: A Frida Hansen Tapestry Tale. It aired on April 2, but is now available on the Vesterheim YouTube channel. This lecture is timely if you get a chance to visit the exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Scandinavian Design in the United States: 1890-1980, where you will be able to see Frida Hansen’s Southward in person. This is the webinar description:
Back in 1903, Norwegian-born socialite and tapestry teacher Berthea Aske Bergh was determined to show Americans the brilliance of Norwegian billedvev, or tapestry. She traveled back to Norway and purchased Sørover (Southward), a tapestry of swans and maidens with shimmering threads from the famous Art Nouveau artist Frida Hansen.
Southward was an important, often-displayed monumental tapestry, so when the curators for the blockbuster show, Scandinavian Design in the United States, 1890-1980, sought key textiles, Frida Hansen’s tapestry was top of mind. But where was this 11 x 10 foot weaving now? Only a few grainy black-and-white photos and many glowing descriptions remained.
In January 2021, nearly 90 years after Southward was last displayed publicly, noted rug dealer Peter Pap opened a plastic bin in a storage building in Maine. He unfolded a woven treasure in dusty, but pristine condition, and with a quick google search, he learned it was a long-lost Frida Hansen tapestry.
The veil of mystery, as well as the dust of decades, has been removed from Southward. The Frida Hansen masterpiece was restored to the world in time to add to the Scandinavian Designexhibit during its recent run at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and at the Milwaukee Museum of Art, showing March 24-July 23, 2023.
Join Robbie LaFleur for this timely webinar to celebrate the life and work of Frida Hansen and, especially, to hear about the Southward tapestry mystery as it unfolded.
Coming soon, an article about a Finnish weaver…
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Robbie LaFleur
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Interesting story. However, I wondered what kind of Tupperware could hold an 10×11 foot article? 😊 Perhaps he just calls all plastic tubs Tupperware, like all tissues are Kleenex!
Thank you for your astute reading, Carol! The use of “Tupperware” was my own weird usage. I don’t think Tupperware even makes large plastic bins. I changed the words “Tupperware container” to “plastic bin.”
Frida Hanson’s “Southward” tapestry is one of my most favorite, if I could even narrow the Norwegian tapestries down to favorites and not so favorite. The colors, the delicacy, the grace, the fairytale-ness of it’s entirety . . . truly romance and enchant me!