LIFE STORY
The Milky Way
Frida Hansen's Best Known Tapestry (1898)
(Frida Petersen Hansen 1855–1931)
Frida Petersen Hansen was born in 1855 and raised in Hillevåg (now part of Stavanger), Norway. During her youth, she studied art under two other famous Norwegian artists from the Stavanger area: Kitty Kielland (a realist painter, 1843-1914) and Johan Bennetter (a marine painter, 1822-1904). Frida married a rich man (Mr. Hansen) in Hellevåg and then this artistically talented "society lady" designed a wonderful garden for their house filled with the flowers she loved. [You can visit her house (called the Køhler house ) if you are in Stavanger — it is open 10am and 2pm. The house has an office and exhibition area.]
During the late 1800's an Arts and Crafts Movement became the rage in the world of art as a result of the nationalistic movements occurring through out Europe. Many artists turned to their country’s traditional historic artistic traditions hoping to promote their particular country’s identity. In Norway, Frida Hansen brought to life tapestry weaving and is credited with helping revive it. She relied on ancient Norwegian tapestries and methods where flat, vivid fields of color are interwoven to inspire her artwork and style. Her beautiful hand-spun and hand-dyed wool tapestries are delicate and done in a flat rectilinear style (in which distance, paths, lines, etc. are always parallel to axes at right angles).
Hansen's artwork reflected the changes in the art world occurring during her career—her style evolved from Arts and Crafts to Art Nouveau. Frida's tapestry motifs were based on folklore, biblical stories, and her gardens. She is also credited with keeping weaving thriving in Norway when in 1897 she established a weaving society there. In addition, she also influenced the revival of tapestry weaving in Hungary and Germany.
In 1900, her international fame was well established when she won acclaim at an international exhibition in Paris. At that exhibition, Frida sold many of her works to many European museums. Although she died in Norway in 1931, Frida Hansen’s works are still found throughout museums around the world. She is still known as Norway’s best textile artist of all time.
- Note: One book that features some of her works and other Scandinavian Designs is available online and has a review: Scandinavian Design (by Charlotte and Peter Fiell, publisher: Taschen, 2002).