Nationalism and the Nordic Imagination: Swedish Art of the 1890s

Rating:
Summary: Art and utopian nationalism
Review: Many people have written about how art is used in a nationalist context, just as music and literature were used throughout the 19th and 20th centuries to create highly idealized images of ethnic groups and emergent nation-states seeking to gain cultural and political independence. In Scandinavia, two regional schools of art -- in Finland and Norway -- were in tune with the mainstream of European nationalist art, always fascinated by questions of ethnicity. (Neither Finland nor Norway become independent until after 1900, from Russia and Sweden respectively). In those countries, artists like Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Erik Werenskiold chose to focus on earthy folk themes in order to emphasize the cultural distinctiveness of Finns and Norwegians.

In Sweden, however, nationalist art took a different turn. Sweden had already been independent for several hundred years, and Swedish artists like Richard Bergh, Karl Nordström, Anders Zorn and Carl Larsson were thus less concerned about their country's ethnic uniqueness than about issues like social equality, women's rights and the environment. While "Swedishness" played a very important role in their art, the concept was a highly progressive and socially-conscious one, in no way narrowly chauvinistic. "Swedishness" embodied these artists' ideas about what kind of country Sweden must become and how to create an ideal Sweden.

As Michelle Facos argues in this book, the 1890s were the cradle of modern Sweden, a decade that gave birth to the social-utopian ideals that make this country today so distinct. The emphasis in turn-of-the-century art that was placed on concepts like human rootedness in the land, pride in the nation's social accomplishments, and the potentials of peace rather than war led to a vigorous national regeneration in Sweden after 1900. And as Facos points out, "the impact of these artists' endeavors on the taste and values of twentieth-century Sweden cannot be overstated." Even in the decorative arts, Swedes experienced a kind of regeneration. For as the contemporary writer William Morris wrote, "external beauty is a symbol of a decent and reasonable life."

In "Nationalism & the Nordic Imagination," Facos looks at some of the themes that Swedish "National Romantic" painters dealt with during the 1890s. Grounded in ideas like primitivism, rootedness, symbolism, and the value of historical painting, Swedish art was also part of a larger Scandinavian and European context, which Facos explores, relating Swedish art to the work of painters like Gauguin, Puvis de Chavannes, and Van Gogh.

The book is very well written and accessible, and recommended to anyone interested in art history or Scandinavia. Five stars.