A woman who attended my lecture in Oslo last fall mentioned that she has a transparent tapestry. Really, examples of the technique keep coming out of the woodwork–at auction, in private homes, and small museums. Tove Solbakken traveled to Kongsvinger to look at the tapestry and take some photos. The owner does not have information about the designer or weaver.
I didn’t have an answer or a firm guess about the designer right away, but I am coming up with a hunch.
Do you see the pink circles/fruit/berries on the tree? They remind me of a similar motif (in beige) on a parrot tapestry design by Jullik Gulbrandsen. Also, the tree on the Konsvinger tapestry has branches that peek in and out of the foliage, and the parrot one does too.
Here is a pattern by Jullik Gulbrandsen in the Husfliden archive at the Norsk Folkemuseum. Look at the circles/fruit/berries at the top let and top right. They look even more like the ones in the Konsvinger tapestry.
In this watercolor pattern in the Husfliden archives, the rose bush leaves are similar to those in the Kongsvinger tapestry. And another small similarity is the trunk of the tree, with diagonal lines near the bottom of the trunk.
Jullik Gulbrandsen designed many tapestries, and the flowers, birds, and other images can differ. She was a weaver in the studio run by Frida Hansen from 1897-1904, and afterwards was a weaver and designer for Husfiden. Here’s an ad from Urd magazine in 1933, announcing that she will weave tapestries and has tapestry cartoons to rent for people to weave themselves.
Here are a few more Guldbrandsen designs from the Husfliden archives. (Two of these are very similar.)
However, I have not seen another Gulbrandsen design that includes the four-or-five petaled flower found in the Konsvinger tapestry. So even though I think the circle/fruit/berry motif is a strong indicator that the Konsvinger transparent tapestry was designed by Jullik Gulbrandsen, I think I need stronger evidence to draw that conclusion. Opinions, anyone?
More posts mentioning Jullik Gulbrandsen:
Julie (Jullik) Gulbrandsen: Parrots Galore
Identifying a Transparent Tapestry: Birds and Roses are Key
Another Parrot in the Woven Flock