Nordic Arts & Crafts Symposium
Saturday May 10th 2025
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
(check-in and coffee 9:15-9:45)
Campbell Conference Facility
Munk School of Global Affairs
1 Devonshire Place
University of Toronto
Scandinavian and Finnish Art, Craft and Architecture
Painting Politically: National Romanticism and the Rise of Social Democracy
Michelle Facos, Indiana University-Bloomington
10:15 am
In
the final decades of the nineteenth century, progressive artists in
Finland, Norway, and Sweden actively promoted a democratic, egalitarian
ethos consistent with that of William Morris as part of a broader
movement toward Social Democracy. Equally urgent for Finns and
Norwegians, of course, was national sovereignty. These varied objectives
unified under the ideology of National Romanticism, whose twin purpose
was social solidarity and egalitarian political reform fostered by
imagery that reminded compatriots of their common heritage and history.
Michelle Facos
was the first to introduce Anglophone audiences to Swedish National
Romantic painting with her 1998 book, Nationalism and the Nordic
Imagination. Swedish Art of the 1890s (California). She is a professor
at Indiana University-Bloomington and has been a guest lecturer in
Germany, Poland, and Sweden. She is co-curator of the exhibition “The
Scandinavian Home: Art and Identity 1880-1920” opening at
Frick-Pittsburgh in September. For exhibition updates and
behind-the-scenes insights, follow @homeashistory on Instagram. For more on Nordic art, check out Facos’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@mfacosarthistorian and website: www.michellefacos.com.
The Myth of “Nordic Craft” and the Reality of Specificity
Monica Obniski, High Museum of Art, Atlanta
11:15 am
The
term “Nordic craft” might conjure up ideas of dala horses or woolen
blankets, but the history of craft production in the Nordic countries of
Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland is quite rich and varied. Using a
framework that aims to shed the weight of myths surrounding Nordic
production, this talk will provide some social context from the late
19th century into the mid-twentieth century that enabled the making of
important examples of furniture, glass, ceramics, and textiles.
Monica Obniski is
a design historian and curator, currently at the High Museum of Art
(Atlanta, Georgia), where she is responsible for collecting, exhibiting,
and programming a global collection of decorative arts and design,
which includes a yearly piazza design commission. Her curatorial
practice engages social issues and is rooted in architecture and design
history. Monica’s most recent projects include Scandinavian Design and
the United States (2020-23), Stephen Burks: Shelter in Place(2022-24),
and Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other (2023-24); she is currently preparing
the exhibition Isamu Noguchi: “I am not a designer” for 2026-27. She
has held curatorial posts at the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Art Institute
of Chicago, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Monica received an MA
from the Bard Graduate Center and a PhD from the University of Illinois
at Chicago.
Lunch provided 12:15 pm
A Visit to Hvitträsk
Mikko Teräsvirta, National Museum of Finland
1:30 pm
Hvitträsk
is a national romantic building complex designed by three architects, located
in Kirkkonummi right by Helsinki. It served as a home and office for
three architect families (Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Eliel
Saarinen) and was built between 1901 and 1903. It is considered to be a
central work of art from the Finnish Art Nouveau period.
A fire
occurred in the northern wing of the main building in 1922, and a new
northern section was built between 1929 and 1936, designed by architect
Eero Saarinen, the son of Eliel Saarinen. Hvitträsk remained a summer
residence for the Saarinen family until 1949, when Saarinen moved to USA
and sold it to private ownership. It has operated as a museum since
1971. Hvitträsk is presented as the architectural home of Eliel Saarinen
from the early 20th century. The complex also includes a terrace
garden.
Mikko Teräsvirta
is responsible for museum services in three of the National Museum of
Finland’s sites, including Hvitträsk. He has over 20 years of experience
in the museum field and has a master's degree in ethnology from the
University of Helsinki.
The Plight of Craft
Taisto H Mäkelä, University of Colorado Denver, Emeritus
2:30 pm
William
Morris espoused principles of production and social values that
confronted those dominant in the Industrial Age. Morris, along with AWN
Pugin and John Ruskin, passionately argued for a return to Medieval
social models as an antidote to the dehumanizing machine age. The goal
was to restore the value of handcraft and the status of the worker but
multiple contradictions and conflicts were inevitably involved. How
successful was Morris?
To conclude, a few traditional wood churches
in Finland will be reviewed. These buildings, arguably, are
representative of an authentic cultural expression that continues into
the present in Finland. A recent example is the remarkable Kärsämäki
Shingle Church by OOPEAA Architects, 2004. It represents a rejection of
industrialized anonymity while contributing to the historical lineage
honoring the traditions of woodwork and craft.
Taisto H Mäkelä
grew up in West Vancouver, Canada. Beginning at the age of fourteen, he
was educated on construction sites by his father, a carpenter. Taisto
went on to receive a Diploma in Building Technology from the British
Columbia Institute of Technology followed by studies in the UK and US on
architectural history, theory, and criticism. His PhD dissertation at
Princeton University was titled “Imagined Affinities: Architectural
Representation and the Rhetoric of Nationalism in Finland at the Turn of
the Century”. A former Chair of the Department of Architecture at the
University of Colorado Denver, Taisto’s research interests include
aesthetic theory, the modern movement, privileged spaces of cultural
institutions, classical and vernacular traditions. He lectures on these
topics internationally and has served as a visiting faculty member in
Helsinki, Bucharest, Beirut, and Bangkok. In 2024, he was also appointed
a Visiting Associate Professor at Colorado College.
Registration, including lunch and reception:
Members: $ 95.
Non-members: $120.
Students with valid ID: $30
To register, please sign up at
https://forms.gle/EP9gYvuKm7oUmV2g8
before Monday, May 5th.
