Swedish grace
Swedish grace or Swedish modern was a Swedish art movement within architecture and design during the 1920s, also called "Classicism of the 1920s" in Sweden.
The term “Swedish grace” was coined in 1931 by the British art critic Morton Shand in the architecture magazine Architectural Review . The cool, simple, but at the same time elegant Swedish design language had many fans, nationally and internationally. The desire for classicism grew after national romanticism had played its role with representatives such as Carl Larsson and Anders Zorn . They looked for more matter-of-fact and tighter forms, in keeping with the ideal of the late eighteenth century.
In architecture , Gunnar Asplund , Ivar Tengbom , Sigurd Lewerentz , Carl Bergsten and Erik Lallerstedt were the main advocates of this classicist style of the 1920s. The Stockholm City Library , designed by Gunnar Asplund in 1918–27, culminated the style of Swedish grace , the transition to functionalism had already begun and two years later, at the Stockholm Exhibition in 1930 , Asplund and many of his colleagues had already switched to functionalism, while Carl Bergsten once again brought the Swedish grace to a climax with the interior design of the luxury liner M / S Kungsholm .
The handicrafts and interior design were also influenced by the Swedish grace . Simon Gates and Edward Halds art glass as well as Carl Malmstens furniture aroused great attention at the world exhibition in Paris 1925 " L'Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes " . The style, which was called "Classicism of the 1920s" in Sweden, was given the name art deco, which is common in the rest of Europe, at the Paris World Exhibition .
Literature and source
- 1900-2002 Svensk form internationell design , Bokförlaget DN, 2002
- Bonnier's Lexicon , Bonnier's Lexicon, 1997