By Robbie LaFleur
Maidens riding swans are forever moving through blue fan-shaped waves in Frida Hansen’s monumental tapestry, Sørover [Southward], 1903. Perhaps that is appropriate for such a well-traveled work of art?
Southward was barely cut from the loom of Frida Hansen before spending decades on exhibit in many American states.
1903. Berthea Aske Bergh, a New York Norwegian-American socialite, weaving teacher, and pupil of Frida Hansen, bought Southward from Frida Hansen and brought it to the U.S.
1903-1931. Southward was exhibited in more than 25 U.S. venues, including New York City and Brooklyn, New York; Rochester, New York; Washington D.C.; St. Louis, Missouri; Baltimore, Maryland; Toledo, Ohio; Burlington, Vermont; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Read more: “Southward on Display.”)
In particular, tens of thousands of Norwegian-Americans visited the Norse-American Centennial celebration held at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds on June 6–9, 1925. Thousands of the visitors must have seen Southward hanging in the Exhibition hall.
1961 — Southward is sold at the estate auction of Norman Bergh, son of Berthea Aske Bergh, but there is no record of who bought it or how much was paid. (Read more: “More Provenance Puzzle Pieces are in Place.”)
19?? (1970s?) — David McInnis, a rug dealer from Keene, New Hampshire, acquired Southward and stored it carefully.
2021 — After the death of David McInnis, Rug Dealer Peter Pap rediscovered the tapestry, many decades after it was last publicized, folded in a bin. (Read more: “Frida Hansen’s Sørover.”)
2022-2023 — After cleaning, Southward was once again exhibited in two venues. It was part of Scandinavian Design and the United States, 1890-1980 at LACMA, the Los Angeles Museum of Art (Oct. 9, 2022-Feb. 5, 2023), and the Milwaukee Museum of Art (March 24-July 23, 2023).
2025 — Southward travels eastward, back to Norway for an exhibit at the Stavanger Art Museum, From the Roots: Kitty Kielland & Frida Hansen.
Imagine all the times Southward has been rolled, unrolled, and moved. Here is a photo of the tapestry in Peter Pap‘s studio in Dublin, New Hampshire, being rolled for shipping to Stavanger.
Think of all the types of vehicles that were used to transport the tapestry to various venues. It came by boat from Norway in 1903. It was most likely moved by horse-drawn carriage during the first decade of the 1900s, and then by gasoline-powered trucks and cars. It was sent between the Toledo Museum of Art and the Brooklynn Museum of Art in 1931 with American Railway. It will not be sent back to Norway by boat.
Through the diligent work of Berthea Aske Bergh, the owner of Southward, the tapestry itself was a vehicle in the United States for promoting Norwegian tapestry and Frida Hansen’s talent. Bergh received the St. Olav’s Medal from Norway’s King Haakon the Seventh for her promotion of Norwegian art. I think she would be happy that the tapestry she bought from Frida Hansen’s loom is still admired by new generations.
Thousands of Americans have had the opportunity to admire Southward. After 122 years in America, it seems high time to bring it back to Norway for a blockbuster exhibit.
Fra Røttene: Kitty Kielland & Frida Hansen [From the Roots: Kitty Kielland & Frida Hansen]
Stavanger Kunstmuseum, June 14-August 31, 2025
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