Many of the Swedish and Norwegian tapestries in the collection of Carol Johnson are woven by novices, probably by women learning tapestry techniques during a resurgence of textile interest in the 1950s-1970s. Once piece is undisputedly a learner piece.
Because here’s the Swedish book with the pattern! Flamskvävnad: Flemish Weaving, by Ernst Fischer and Gertrud Ingers (Västeros: ICA Förlaget, 1961).
Carol has two small tapestries of a man and woman surrounded by a floral border. It’s a segment of a well-known Swedish tapestry cushion pattern, “The Engagement.”
The pattern for this weaving is found in Flemish Weaving: A Guide to Tapestry Technique, by Gertrude Ingers (NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1971, originally published in Swedish, 1967). Clearly this was a frequently woven sample. Two Swedish ones have come to Minnesota, and I even saw one for sale on a Japanese site for vintage textiles, at http://www.antique-vintage.net/seikatsu/w214.html.
Another tapestry in Carol’s collection features tant Brun, tant Grön, and tant Gredelin, three aunts featured in a popular Swedish series of books by Elsa Beskow published from 1918-1947. (If you speak Swedish, or maybe even if you don’t, check out this crazy video on on YouTube to acquaint you with the aunts.)
Perhaps this was sold as a pattern by Hemslöjd (the Swedish handcraft association), as a version of it is featured on the Swedish Digital Museum. Click here. It is from the collection of Östra Skånes hemslöjdsförening. I think the version that Carol purchased is prettier, woven more attractively.
It’s a fun puzzle to find references to the tapestries in Carol Johnson’s collection. If you’d like to see them all, please come to the mini-seminar on Norwegian and Swedish tapestry traditions on May 31.
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