“What joy to be a sculptor!”

Exhibition

This exhibition was all about forgotten and rediscovered Swedish women artists from the period around the turn of the century 1900.

“What joy to be a sculptor! Artist. Hooray!” wrote the artist Ida Matton in her diary on 10 August 1923, in spite of the tribulations she sometimes experienced in her chosen profession. She is one of many examples of somewhat forgotten female artists from Sweden who practised in the period around 1900. As part of a pan-Nordic project running over several years, Nationalmuseum was bringing some of these sculptors back into the spotlight. The exhibition, which borrowed its name from the merry diary note, offered both recognition and rediscovery of some hundred sculptures from public as well as private settings by artists such as Ida Matton, Ruth Milles, Alice Nordin, Agnes de Frumerie and Sigrid Fridman.

Curator: Linda Hinners

Find out more about the artists and the exhibition

“What joy to be a sculptor! Artist. Hooray!” wrote the artist Ida Matton in her diary on 10 August 1923, in spite of the tribulations she sometimes experienced in her chosen profession. That day, work on her sculpture of Gustav Vasa had gone particularly well. The turn of the 20th century saw the emergence of the women’s movement and the fight for equal rights, and women were starting to make their presence felt in various areas of society. Traditionally, the heavy and dirty work of a sculptor was seen as a male occupation. Sculptures of nude bodies were considered unsuitable for ladies. Nevertheless, a relatively large number of women trained as sculptors in Sweden in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

After their studies they travelled to the Continent, and especially to Paris. There, they encountered modern ways of living and new artistic ideals. There were art schools, salon exhibitions and world’s fairs.

The female sculptors were adept at finding new and collaborative approaches, especially when it came to applied art aimed at a wider market. Several of them enjoyed great success at exhibitions and remained in Paris for most of their life. Others led a somewhat nomadic existence across Europe, living independently, and unconventionally by the standards of the time, in free relationships.

Their oeuvre was extensive, encompassing all genres. Often reproduced in various sizes and materials, their sculptures became very popular. But they also came in for criticism and achieved only limited exposure in museums and public spaces. As a result, many of them were forgotten for much of the 20th century.

This exhibition was the result of a multi-year project involving leading Nordic art museums and independent researchers from across northern Europe. The exhibition also had a crowdsourcing component, where the museum invited private individuals to share forgotten stories of female sculptors. Visitors had the opportunity to recognise and rediscover sculptures from public and private settings by artists such as Ida Matton, Ruth Milles, Alice Nordin, Agnes de Frumerie and Sigrid Fridman.

To coincide with the exhibition in spring 2022, Nationalmuseum published an anthology in English about Nordic women sculptors, in collaboration with researchers and writers from Sweden and abroad.

Artists represented in the exhibition

Carolina Benedicks-Bruce 1856–1935

Antoinette Råström 1858–1911

Sigrid Blomberg 1863–1941

Ida Matton 1863–1940

Ida Thoresen 1863–1937

Agnes de Frumerie 1869–1937

Märta Améen 1871–1940

Alice Nordin 1871–1948

Gerda Sprinchorn 1871–1951

Ruth Milles 1873–1941

Hjördis-Nordin-Tengbom 1877–1969

Sigrid Fridman 1879–1963

Alice Nordin, Portrait of Märtha Cederström (1873–1925), 1910, marble.

Ida Matton, portrait study, possibly of Matilda Hanström Berendt, 1891 terracotta.

Carolina Benedicks-Bruce, in her studio in Paris, 1889.

Agnes de Frumerie in cooperation with Edmond Lachenal, Struggle for existence. 1900.

Agnes de Frumerie, Struggle for existence, 1900.

Ida Matton working on her sculpture of King Gustav Vasa.

Some flashbacks

Enjoy the exhibition in retrospect through the interior images and explanatory texts below.

Traditionally, the heavy and dirty work of a sculptor was seen as a male occupation. Nevertheless, a relatively large number of women trained as sculptors – or sculptresses as they were called –at the turn of the last century. But many of the sculptors were forgotten or ignored during large parts of the 20th century. In this exhibition, works by twelve Swedish women sculptors from the late 19th and early 20th centuries were shown. Several of the sculptures had not been shown for a very long time. time.

“What joy to be a sculptor!” wrote the artist Ida Matton in her diary on 10 August 1923. That day, work on her sculpture of Gustav Vasa had gone particularly well. Commissioning women sculptors to make public monuments was uncommon, but not unheard of. The positive statement by Matton was applied as a theme for the whole exhibition. A common driving force seems to have been precisely the love of the sculpture profession.

William Blaire Bruce's painting "Femme Sculpteur" (Konstärshemmet Brucebo, Gotland) of his wife Carolina Benedicks-Bruce (1856-1935) in her professional role as a sculptor goes against any preconceived notions about what was considered a suitable profession for a woman; her hands and clothes are dirty and she models a naked man and woman embracing each other.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm was one of the first public art schools to welcome women, when it opened its women’s department in 1864. The first female student of sculpture enrolled in 1870, and nine women attended the sculpture class at the Royal Academy by the turn of the century. Most of them had also completed introductory studies at the Technical School (now Konstfack – University College of Arts Crafts and Design), which began accepting female students in the 1850s. The skills they could learn in the schools included drawing, engraving and modelling from images and plaster casts, and studying life models.

The women sculptors were appreciated for their ability to represent emotional expressions and everyday scenes. Instead of classical or lofty subjects, the small sculptures often depicted the life of ordinary people and social issues, and such motifs came to be produced on an almost industrial scale. Gerda Sprinchorn (1871-1951) was one of the sculptors who specialized in statuettes of ordinary people in everyday situations. With her production of sculptural works in small formats, Sprinchorn found a way to make a living as a sculptor.

Agnes de Frumerie (1869-1937) was the most successful Swedish women sculptors in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. She specialised in figurines depicting ordinary people in everyday situations. Ceramicists produced her models in stoneware, with a new kind of colourful matte glaze. The sculptures were a major success and attracted praise from contemporary art critics who called Agnes de Frumerie “one of the most original talents at the moment”.

Scenes from French rural life and character portraits of old women became a highly popular genre in the late 19th century. Sometimes the subjects were taken from Parisian streetlife, or from the artist’s family.

This sculpture by Ida Matton show two naked women close to each other. It is called “The Confidence”. Women friendships were very important at this time. We don't always know exactly what the relationships between the women looked like, if it was about homosexual relationships or close friendships, but the women undoubtably had great importance for each other and supported each other to be able to live independent lives.

Commissioned portraits were a regular mainstay of the works produced by the women sculptors. Alice Nordin (1871-1948) was one of the most eminent and productive women sculptors in Sweden in the early 20th century and she was commissioned to sculpt numerous portraits of the high society and cultural figures.

The clean lines of Ida Thoresen’s (1863-1937) figures were praised by some for their “masculine power and genuine artistry”. At the same time, the body in the sculpture is sensual and realistic, as an expression of the artist’s personal gaze.

Sigrid Fridman (1879-1963) is one of the few women sculptors ever commissioned to create multiple public monuments. This gave her a special status as an artist, but she was also strongly criticised. It was by no means usual for a woman to take her place in the public sphere, and Fridman’s artistic style was new and groundbreaking.

Artists represented in the exhibition

Some flashbacks

Related content