Examining my Transparent Tapestry from Blomqvist

I wrote earlier about purchasing a transparent tapestry in Frida Hansen’s wool open warp tapestry technique through the Norwegian Blomqvist auction site. Read “A Merry Christmas Transparency for Me.”

It came just a few weeks ago. The doorbell rang and the fedex delivery person held a box with bright tape proclaiming FORSIKTIG (careful).

Out of the box, the tapestry is inspected and approved.

I didn’t hang it until the Frida Hansen transparency workshop I am teaching this week at the Weavers Guild of Minnesota. It was a wonderful opportunity to look at it carefully, and get many impressions.

Here are a number of comments from my students: “It looks refined and nice. The colors are muted, the the effect is not heavy. It could be a gate.” “The subtlety of the colors makes you want to examine it at length.”

I loved the square meandering tracery at the top, forming a frame. Someone commented, “It looks like gingerbread trim on a house.” The blue-gray color of the top flower especially appealed to one student, and she commented that the braided hanging loops look quite refined.

I liked the repeating element that looks like a hinge on an old door.

One student wondered about when it was made and the dyes used for the yarn. Could it be lichens and mushrooms? She also found the image weirdly familiar in a comforting way. Another said, “It reminds me of something that could be in a church, something that could be studied as you sit in a pew.”

I’m so pleased with our group evaluation. It would certainly be fun to know more about the provenance. Who designed it? Who wove it? Where did it come from? The auction listing merely dated it as the first part of the 20th century. Unsigned.

Do you know of other transparent tapestries in private ownership, beautiful work that carried on the wonderful work of Frida Hansen? I’d love to know about them.