The State Hermitage Museum: Exhibitions

Swedish Glass
25 April, 2003 - 7 July, 2003

The exhibition opened in the Apollo Hall (Room No. 260) of the Winter Palace shows art glass from Sweden, a country with centuries-long traditions of glass production. 72 objects displayed in the exhibit represent the best creations of Swedish art glass masters from the end of the 19th century to our days. First furnaces for the production of window glass and household utensils were built there back in the 12th century. In the 18th century, most of the glass factories including the largest one in Kosta, founded in 1742, were concentrated in the south-west province Smaland. For a long time Swedish masters worked exclusively for their home market. Till the early 20th century, their products could not compete with the exquisite German and British creations.

The golden age of art glass which began in Sweden in the 1920s was associated with the enterprises in Kosta and Orrefors which was founded in 1898. New means of expression found by artists who had not previously worked with glass brought success to the Swedish glass industry. Simon Gate (1883-1945) and Edvard Hald (1883-1980) came to Orrefors in 1916. The same year Gate proposed the new Grail technique, named so because of the Holy Grail on whose surface light was miraculously reflected. His vase Valkyries is showed in the exhibit. Vessels made in the new technique impressed visitors to the international exhibitions during the 1920s. Kosta and Orrefors masters still employ it in their creations including the vase by Ulrike Hidman Wallin displayed in the Hermitage.

Simon Gate and Edvard Hald showed how important an artist’s work was for the production success. Swedish factories continue to employ the services of talented masters. Creations of Ulrike Hidman Wallin, Kjell Engman, Monike Backstrom, Goran Warff and Jan Juhanson are highly original. Bertil Wallin, one of the best contemporary masters of art glass, works at the Kosta factory in Sweden. For his composition Caroline, Wallin created a series of cobalt blue and white, as if frozen, sculptured heads. These images were inspired by the story of Caroline Olsson who in 1875 at the age of 13 became unconscious, coming to her senses 33 years later. She experienced her unconsciousness as darkness with blue people around her.

Like other masters at the Orrefors, Kosta and Boda factories, Bertil Wallin makes both original creations and models for mass production. Chateau goblets designed by him are immensely popular both in Sweden and abroad. The masters carry on the tradition expressed in the Orrefors slogan of the 1920s, Beautiful Things for Everyday Life. Industrial design has become the professional credo of many Swedish glass artists, including the designers Ann Walstrom and Lena Backstrom.

Though the factories of Smaland, Orrefors, Kosta and Boda, have now joined into one enterprise, they carefully preserve their individual styles.

Watchers
Bertil Vallin
Larger view

Installation "Carolina"
Karolina resting head
Bertil Vallien
Larger view

Installation "Carolina"
Blue man head
Bertil Vallien
Larger view