magnus olausson director of collections and...

Art Bulletin ofNationalmuseumStockholm

Volume 21

Crossing Borders

Magnus OlaussonDirector of Collections and Exhibitions

19 March, 2014 –

4Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volume 21, 2014

Photo Credits© Palazzo d’Arco, Mantua, inv. 4494/Photo: Nationalmuseum Image Archives, from Domenico Fetti 1588/89–1623, Eduard Safarik (ed.), Milan, 1996, p. 280, fig. 82 (Figs. 2 and 9A, pp. 13 and 19)© Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow (Fig. 3, p. 13)© bpk/Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden/Elke Estel/Hans-Peter Klut (Figs. 4, 5B, 6B and 7B, pp. 14–17)© Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program (Figs. 8 and 10B, pp. 18 and 20)© CATS-SMK (Fig. 10A, p. 20)© Dag Fosse/KODE (p. 25)© Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design/The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo (p. 28)© SMK Photo (p. 31)© From the article ”La Tour and Lundberg’s portraits of la princesse de Rohan”, by Neil Jeffares, http://www.pastellists.com/Essays/LaTour_Rohan.pdf, 2015-09-21, (p. 40)© The National Gallery, London. Bought, Cour-tauld Fund, 1924 (p. 42)© Stockholms Auktionsverk (p. 47)© Bukowskis, Stockholm (p. 94)© Thron Ullberg 2008 (p. 108)© 2014, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (pp. 133–134)© Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie Dessau (pp. 138–139) © Museen der Stadt Bamberg (pp. 140 and 142)© Archive of Thomas Fusenig (p. 141)© Nordiska museet, Stockholm/Karolina Kristensson (pp. 148–149)

Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, is published with generous support from the Friends of the Nationalmuseum.

Nationalmuseum collaborates with Svenska Dagbladet and Grand Hôtel Stockholm. We would also like to thank FCB Fältman & Malmén.

Cover IllustrationsDomenico Fetti (1588/89–1623), David with the Head of Goliath, c. 1617/20. Oil on canvas, 161 x 99.5 cm. Purchase: The Wiros Fund. Nationalmuseum, NM 7280.

PublisherBerndt Arell, Director General

EditorJanna Herder

Editorial CommitteeMikael Ahlund, Magdalena Gram, Janna Herder, Helena Kåberg, Magnus Olausson and Lidia Westerberg Olofsson.

PhotographsNationalmuseum Photographic Studio/Linn Ahlgren, Olle Andersson, Erik Cornelius, Anna Danielsson, Cecilia Heisser, Bodil Karlsson and Sofia Persson.

Picture EditorRikard Nordström

Every effort has been made by the publisher to credit organizations and individuals with regard to the supply of photographs. Please notify the publisher regarding corrections.

Graphic DesignBIGG

LayoutAgneta Bervokk

Translation and Language EditingGabriella Berggren, Martin Naylor and Kristin Belkin.

PublishingIngrid Lindell (Publications Manager) and Janna Herder (Editor).

Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum is published annually and contains articles on the history and theory of art relating to the collections of the Nationalmuseum.

NationalmuseumBox 16176SE–103 24 Stockholm, Swedenwww.nationalmuseum.se© Nationalmuseum, the authors and the owners of the reproduced works

123 Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volume 21, 2014

exhibitions/crossing borders

Crossing Borders

Magnus OlaussonDirector of Collections and Exhibitions

19 March 2014 –

Fig. 1 Interior from the exhibition Crossing Borders.



have different styles and are inspired by both advertising and fashion photography, films and videos. This sometimes lends a theatrical air to their work, with carefully staged portraits. Other photographs exem-plify intimacy or detachment, the personal and the official.

In Hans Gedda’s portrait of the Nobel laureate Tomas Tranströmer, no one would suspect that a stroke had left the author hemiplegic (Fig. 2). The picture is remar-kably meditative, with a beetle moving in the opposite direction across the table. It could be a reference to the scarab, the an-

the city was Cultural Capital of Europe. Last summer, we also showed a similar selection at the Swedish National Portrait Gallery, Gripsholm Castle. The exhibition featured more than 20 photographic portraits of internationally famous Swedes who had challenged or crossed borders in one way or another (Fig. 1).

Another vital aspect has been that the portraits we show reflect contemporary portrait photography. The photograph-ers belong to different generations, from Hans Gedda and Denise Grünstein to Sanna Sjöswärd and Magnus Laupa. They

In 2014, an exhibition project was laun-ched together with Swedavia, to show art and design from the Nationalmuseum col-lection at Swedish airports, with the object of reaching a wider and more internatio-nal audience. This idea was prompted to a large degree by our ambition to show the Nationalmuseum’s collections while the museum building is closed for refur-bishment. Our first project was the photo exhibition Crossing Borders which opened at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, where some 20 million travellers pass through each year. The next exhibition venue was Umeå, when

Fig. 2 Hans Gedda (b. 1942), Tomas Tranströmer (1931–2015), 2006. Gelatin silver print, 55.5 x 45 cm. Nationalmuseum, NMGRH 4437.

Fig. 3 Thomas Wågström (b. 1955), Ingvar Kamprad (b. 1926), 2010. Photograph, pigment based ink on paper, 80 x 61 cm. Nationalmuseum, NMGRH 4728.

125 Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volume 21, 2014


Wadström. The other is of former foreign minister Carl Bildt, immortalised in Par-liament in Stockholm by Sanna Sjöswärd (Fig. 4).

The other portraits originate in other contexts. Fredrik Etoall’s picture of the recording artist Robyn, and Eric Broms’ photo of the footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic are two examples of this (Figs. 5 and 6). Zlatan, with his spectacularly acrobatic style on the pitch, has been one of the greatest football stars for more than ten years. But Broms’ portrait of Zlatan, like Peter Cederling’s of swimming champion

cient Egyptian symbol for the morning sun, but more specifically to the fact that a newly- discovered species of beetles was named after Tranströmer, in honour of his 80th birthday – Mordellistena transtroemeriana. Thomas Wåg-ström’s portrait of Ingvar Kamprad signals ingenuity in simplicity – his key to success rests lightly in one hand (Fig. 3). The Ikea hex key is a familiar symbol of the compa-ny whose flat-packed furniture is found in so many Western homes. Wågström is also the photographer behind one of the two portraits commissioned for this exhibition, that of the biochemist and inventor Petra

Therese Alshammar, demonstrate new trends in the genre (Fig. 7). Here, crop-ping is used to create evocative effects. All the new portraits that were acquired and shown in the exhibition, were funded by Gripsholmsföreningen av år 1937.

With this manifestation of photographic portraits, as highlighted in the exhi-bition Crossing Borders, our own contempo-rary times have gained a stronger presence in the Swedish National Portrait Gallery. From the very start, the idea was to feature people who have made a valuable contribu-tion to Sweden. Formerly, this was almost

Fig. 4 Sanna Sjöswärd (b. 1973), Carl Bildt (b. 1949), 2014. Photograph, digital print, 64.2 x 44.2 cm. Nationalmuseum, NMGRH 4962.

Fig. 5 Fredrik Etoall (b. 1980), Robyn Carlsson (b. 1979), 2010.Photograph, digital print, 40 x 60 cm. Nationalmuseum, NMGRH 4953.



exclusively synonymous with being an el-derly male member of the establishment. Now, however, the world’s oldest national portrait gallery has extended its range to in-clude representatives from many different parts of society. The artists include both Swedish and international names, from Alexander Roslin to Irving Penn.

Project leader: Per HedströmWorking party: Mikael Ahlund, Eva-Lena Karlsson, Magnus Olausson, Paula RöhssExhibition design: Joakim E. WerningLighting design: Jan GouiedoExhibition technology and installation: The Technical Department at Nationalmuseum and Lars JohanssonProject coordinator: Erik JärmensGraphic design: Agneta Bervokk

Fig. 6 Eric Broms (b. 1968), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (b. 1981), 2011. Gelatin silver print mounted on aluminium, 60 x 44.4 cm. Nationalmuseum, NMGRH 4951.

Fig. 7 Peter Cederling (b. 1966), Therese Alshammar (b. 1977), 1998/2014. Gelatin silver print, 50.5 x 40.5 cm. Nationalmuseum, NMGRH 4947.

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