I wrote earlier about finally understanding why Frida Hansen’s daisy design, Margariter, was so gorgeous and important. That’s the problem with only seeing reproductions in print or online — until you see the right photo or see the work in person, you can’t feel it’s full allure. You can read about how I finally understood why critics at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 were so wild about her design, in “Amazing Daisies.”
I had the same complete mind-changing experience today! Another of Frida Hansen’s well-known transparency designs is Hesteblomster [Dandelions]. I’ve only seen reproductions, like this one that is owned by the Jugendstilsenteret [Art Nouveau Center] in Ålesund, Norway.
This design was praised at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 also, and copies were purchased by applied arts museums in Denmark and Vienna. This is the photo in the online collection of the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna.
OK, it’s interesting, right, with the small squares within the dandelion heads?
Even though I hadn’t appreciated this design so much based on photos, I knew that it must remarkable. Minnesota Weavers Guild founder Hilma Berglund saw it in Denmark in 1922, sketched some details, and returned to the U.S. and wove two beautiful transparency panels that are now in the collection of the American Swedish Institute. (Read about Hilma and her transparencies: “Frida Hansen Influence in Minnesota.”)
Now that I am researching Frida Hansen’s transparent tapestries, people tell me about their transparency sightings. In 2019, through a friend of my friend Anne Whidden, I learned that an example of Hesteblomster was given to the Girl Scouts from the Norwegian delegation of Girl Scouts in 1925, on the occasion of Fourth International Conference held at Edith Macy Camp in Westchester County, New York. She sent a photo.
Now I am in search of a really lovely image of Hesteblomster. I remembered the Girl Scout tapestry and called the Edith Macy Center. I talked with Justine Bishara, and asked if she knew where it was because I hope to get a beautiful photo. She didn’t know where it was, but promised to check with the Operations Manager, who would surely know. I sent her an email with the photo, and shortly after received an email, “I found it!” It is in the Great Hall, the first building erected at the national Girl Scout camp (which is now a conference center). Girls from all over the country came to the camp for generations and took their meals in this grand room, within sight of Frida Hansen’s tapestry. It is magnificent in its size and setting.
What a wonderful discovery, to see how lovely this tapestry is in a large size. Again, now I get it.
Unfortunately, it is hard to get a full and perfect photo because of the rafters and reflections. My quest will continue.