This photo is in the archive of the Oslo City Museum. It transports us to Frida Hansen’s weaving studio, Norsk Aaklæde- og Billedtæppe-Væveri, probably in 1898. That’s my guess, from the dates of the patterns that are on the looms, I had an email conversation with Hilde Kjøs recently. Hilde is the director of an exciting upcoming virtual reality production, Finding Frida, written by Hansen’s great-granddaughter, Cecelia Levy. You’ll hear more about that when it is done!
She wondered whether the Margariter, Frida Hansen’s early daisy design, on the loom at the very back of the photo might be these portiers owned by the Nasjonalmuseet, because they seem to be missing a border on one side, like the blue ones.
The blue Margariter were woven by Aslaug Mohn in 1916, according to the museum record. I think it is more likely that the Margariter in the photo are the ones woven for the 1900 Paris Worlds Fair, or one of the sets of curtains woven for Conrad Mohr in Bergen.
What’s on the other looms in the weaving studio photograph? The pieces were identified in the record from the Oslo Museum. Anniken Thue, Frida Hansen’s biographer, must have supplied the information, because the numbers that accompany the titles are the numbers Thue used in Hansen’s Ouvrekatalog, 1973.
The piece in the front is St. Hansblomster, #117 in the catalog, listed at two curtains. I would never have made that connection based on the tiny photo in Thue’s catalog. There are no woven examples of this design. What happened to the curtains being woven here?
However, I was lucky enough to see the watercolor sketch of the design during my last trip; I’m sure it was the one that Anniken Thue photographed in the 1970s. If you carefully compare it to the piece on the loom, it is definitely that design. (Look at the diamond lines, the stems of the flowers, and the somewhat cloud-like designs between the flowers.)
The weaver on the second loom from the front is weaving a rug design, Lilje. (#151) It’s pretty clear to see from the catalog entry. This one is missing; there are no known woven examples of this pattern. Again, where did this one go?
Are the weavers in the photo wearing elaborate white pinafores or aprons as a uniform? One woman is dressed in a Victorian-looking dress, made of yards of black fabric. Could that be Frida Hansen, instructing her weavers?
What else do you find interesting in this photo? I just noticed that the weaver seated on the left at the back loom is sitting on two benches. She has placed one stool on top of another to sit at the right height for weaving. I am happy to have a modern adjustable office chair in front of my tapestry loom.