Academic literature on the topic 'Scandinavian Art'

The aim of this research is to study the development of Scandinavian art outside of Scandinavia. The main attention is focused on the process of influence of the Borre style elementon the applied art development in North-West Russia of the 10th–12th centuries. The main sources of artistical influence should be not Scandinavia, but the territory of distribution of Scandinavian art, in particular, Pomerania and the British Isles. The stylistic analysis revelates the use of identical elements of decor, where the main place have the highly simplified Borre style motifs (chains and scale motifs), supplemented by a double contour and hatching. It is possible to trace the process of Borre’s assimilation using carved wooden artefacts from Novgorod the Great. Development of this art in the 10th century was influenced by the art of Viking Age. The preservation of these stylistic features can be traced in Novgorod art up to and including the 12th century. One of the actual problems of this phenomenon is the analysis of the decorative schemes and the appearance of the main visual elements.

The article is devoted to study of Art`s Early Medieval Scandinavia XI-XII centuries. This process is concerning with transitional from Late Viking Art to early Romanesque. The main focus is on the group of Norwegian wood carving portals. The system of portals decorum is the result of artistic interaction between late pagan art and art of Christianity. This process reflected in wooden portals of Norwegian stave churches and others monuments of Scandinavian wooden, stone sculptures and objects of applied art.

In the above paper, Johan Ling and Zofia Stos-Gale present results from a project comparing isotopes from Bronze Age artefacts with signatures from known Bronze Age mining localities. The results showed that artefacts found in southern Sweden were made from bronze mined in Cyprus. This is in itself interesting, but the discovery of rock art engravings in Sweden that resemble ‘oxhide’ bronze ingots from Cyprus adds a new dimension to the interpretation of Scandinavian rock art, with its strong focus on boat images. The number of possible oxhide ingots represented in Swedish rock art is low, but if the identification of these images is correct, we have evidence, for the first time, of direct connections between Scandinavia and the eastern Mediterranean, connections that have been supposed, but not evidenced, for more than a century (e.g. Hansen 1909). Here, I focus on some implications this article may have for future Scandinavian Bronze Age studies, with special emphasis on rock art.

Aims: This article reviews current practice relating to arts and culture on prescription in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and in the United Kingdom. It considers future possibilities and also each of the Scandinavian countries from a culture and health policy and research perspective. The United Kingdom perhaps leads the field of Arts on Prescription practice, and subsequent research is described in order to help identify what the Scandinavian countries might learn from the UK research. Method: The method adopted for the literature search was a rapid review which included peer-reviewed and grey literature in English and the respective languages of Scandinavia. Results: The discussion considers the evidence to support social prescription and the potential obstacles of the implementation of Arts on Prescription in Scandinavian countries. Conclusion: The article concludes that of the Scandinavian countries, Sweden is ahead in terms of Arts on Prescription and has embraced the use of culture for health benefits on a different scale compared to Norway and Denmark. Denmark, in particular, is behind in recognising ways in which art and culture can benefit patients and for wider public health promotion. All three countries may benefit from the evidence provided by UK researchers.

The author examines similarity of historical and cultural development of Russia and Scandinavian countries. Cultural ties between the two domains evolved over many centuries. The most intensive period of development of Russian-Scandinavian artistic contacts stretched from mid-1880s-1890s up to the end of the first decade of the 20th century. In 1890s Russian painters considered achievements of Scandinavian colleagues as an example of a quest for progress, a creative approach to finding ones way in development of fine arts. At the same period in Russia a number of major international art exhibitions were arranged with active northern painters participation. The Russian interest in the art of Scandinavian countries in the late 19th - early 20th c. was anything but accidental. The development of artistic culture in Nordic countries was in tune with the Russian artists quest for other ways of creative expression. Northern culture attracted sympathy of Russian painters, black-and-white artists and art critics of diverse, often opposing groups and movements. For example, among the admirers of Scandinavian fine arts were V.V. Stasov and A.N. Benoit, I.E. Repin, V.A. Serov, F.A.Malyavin, the artists of the "Mir iskusstva group, and representatives of Moscow School of Painting (K. Korovin, A. Arkhipov, V. Perepletchikov etc.). By mid-1890s relations of Russian and Scandinavian art schools had become very intense and productive. This interaction coincided with significant events that influenced further development of artistic and other forms of culture on both sides. It manifested itself in publications of works of A. Strinberg and K. Hamsun in Russian, in staging of H. Ibsens plays at the Moscow Art Theater, exhibitions (especially of A.Tsorns works), and other activities that served to cross-fertilisation of cultures of Russia and Scandinavian countries.

A number of public libraries in Denmark have acquired original prints or other works of art since the Danish Library Act of 1964, but only some lend pictures to individuals. Special art departments, bringing together literature, pictures, and other material, have been created in a few major libraries. Art exhibitions are an important activity undertaken by libraries as part of their role of making art accessible to the public. (Originally published in Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly, v. 18 n.4 1985).

Since Aristotle’s time, menstruation has been a stigmatised bodily fluid. It has been a source of shame and guilt for women for centuries. In this article, I focus on how Scandinavian artists since the 1970’s have contributed to make menstruation public through menstrual art. There is wide diversity within Scandinavian menstrual art. Some artists address the menstrual stigma directly in their work, while others use the semiotic and symbolic power of menstrual blood – as abject – to provoke and raise political awareness on feminist issues. I focus on menstrual art in relation to notions of shame and guilt. I argue that menstrual art has contributed to reducing destructive menstrual shame amongst Scandinavian women, even though this may not have been the artists’ main intention in creating the work. Even though the menstrual stigma has been reduced drastically – especially the last five years – menstrual shame has not disappeared. Thus, menstrual art can still contribute to reducing and preventing women from feeling ashamed of their periods. As long as half of humanity menstruates one-third of their life time, the menstrual discussion and menstrual art will remain topics of interest and importance.

It is surprising, in view of the international interest in Scandinavian design, to find that studying this subject on a scholarly level is not at all widespread in the Nordic countries. To increase the amount of research in this field scholars need to be able to publish and get feedback, both from editors and translators and from colleagues. Awareness of this need led to the founding of the annual Scandinavian Journal of Design History seven years ago, which publishes scholarly articles in English, written by Nordic scholars on all topics, and by those abroad on Scandinavian Design. The author’s work on this journal has been complemented by her role as Librarian of the Danish Museum of Decorative Art, which for the last 100 years has been responsible for collecting and preserving Danish decorative art and design documentation. During the last 10 to 15 years the development of design and of design history has brought about a re-evaluation of the criteria for information retrieval. And this has also focussed attention on the problem of proper terminology in this relatively new field – in Danish, but also in other Scandinavian languages – and on the search for exact equivalents in English.