FOLK ART

Even people who are not fond of museums, love to see folk art. Visiting Skansen in Stockholm or Maihaugen in Lillehammer, they do not even think they are visiting a museum. The craftsmanship and the artistic exuberance speak so directly to us that we forget the museum context and only see the ingenuity in the design and decoration.

Scandinavian folk art, from Viking-style ceremonial vessels to brightly painted and decorated travelling trunks, has always created a special interest among North Americans. Right now many on this continent are enjoying or can look forward to two major exhibitions highlighting different aspects of tradition.

Swedish Folk Art: All Tradition is Change is presently on show at the Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum (5800-5814 Wilshire Blvd until January 26, 1997) and will continue to other venus. It includes carved and painted furniture, textiles and costumes, painted wall images, baskets, tableware, iron sculpture and several fragments taken from vernacular architecture, all of which manifest the strong link between old and new folk art and past and present traditions. Exhibition audiences can really see the kinds of changes that have affected the rituals and the customs of the country.

The pierces are displayed in context, creating a dialogue between modernity and traditionalism, urban and rural areas, folk arts in relation to contemporary Swedish design. Four dominant forces are credited with re-shaping Swedish folk art: ecology, life cycles, folk costume and design. Each of these serve as specific exhibition themes, lending universal appeal to museum audiences. Emphasis is given to the home, the utilization of natural resources, the four seasons, ritual and ceremonial folk art, clothing and textiles, and folk art as a source of inspiration for contemporary art.

Four Centuries of Norwegian Folk Art Norway to America: The Migration of a Tradition is on show at the Minnesota Museum of American Art in St Paul until February 2 and opens on February 28 at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle (3014 N.W. 67th Street Phone 206-789-5707). The Norwegian folk art tradition is highly developed and extraordinarily complex - in fact, its roots date to pre-historic times. The exhibit follows the folk tradition from Europe to America and looks at its role in the immigrant culture where the tradition did not die but acquired new meaning as an expression of ethnic pride and identity. The exhibition chronicles four centuries in this development including todays revival that is a way for the community to maintain its heritage.

The more than seventy works on loan from Norwegian museums start off the saga. Approximately sixty-five objects, brought by Norwegian immigrants to America, on loan from public and private collections in this country, develop the saga further. It continues with seventy pieces, representing the tradition as it has been practiced in America by Norwegian-Americans and others.

The exhibition opens with a comprehensive overview of the folk art of Norway from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Tracing developments in carving and painting from late medieval times through the luxuriance of the Baroque and Rococo styles, the show highlights two significant decorative themes - the organic and the geometric. Through the centuries, the graceful rhythm of the acanthus scroll has been juxtaposed with the dynamic angularity of intersecting lines.

Important examples of cupboards decorated with the acanthus motif, massive porridge containers for feast tables and ritual ale vessels incorporating the undulating lines of the Viking tradition resonate with a sophisticated sense of organic design. They are complemented by textiles woven in geometric patterns - several with the eight-pointed star - also typical of Norwegian folk art.

The migration of Norwegian folk art to America is documented both by transported objects and transferred traditions. Highly ornate dowry trunks, elaborately patterned coverlets and other objects for everyday and ceremonial use are included. These functional objects and heirlooms were brought by the immigrants and continue to hold an important place in the NorwegianAmerican community.

The transferred tradition is represented by objects made in America. Some of these illustrate the continuity of tradition, while others are good examples of a revival of the tradition in later decades. Of particular note is the popularity of rosemaling, vividly colored floral decorative painting on wood. The full flowering of rosemaling can be seen in the exhibition with masterworks by recognized contemporary rosemalers. The objects combine traditional forms, such as ale bowls and trunks, with colorful robust painted designs. While the Norwegian exhibits emphasizes tradition, the Swedish exhibition goes almost overboard to demonstrate change. Visitors are met by a spreadeagled Dala horse tufted rug looking more like a hunting trophy than Sweden's unofficial symbol.

Folk art created by the indigenous Sami reindeer herders of Northern Scandinavia is also represented at the Swedish exhibition. Historic and contemporary Sami handicrafts on display help to connect the items and and their makers to the eight seasons of the Sami year, which itself revolves around the life cycle of the herds in their numerous immigrant groups in their natural environment.

Included in the Swedish exhibition is a "lekstuga", an interactive hands-on reconstructed typical 19th century farmhouse. The lekstuga originated at the Nordiska Museet in Stockholm, and houses child-size furnishing, tools, utensils, clothing, books and music, and provides the area for discussion of family life, folklore, gender roles, indigenous materials and the growing multicultural influences on Sweden's traditional arts.

Both the Norwegian and the Swedish exhibitions are accompanied by very thorough and beautiful books that enrich the concepts and become a reading treat for everybody who misses the exhibits.

Published in the Scandinavian Press, Issue 1, 1997