Scandinavian Folk Designs (Dover Pictorial Archive)

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Handicraft shops specialising in traditional folk art can be found in rural areas and cities across Scandinavia. There are several places throughout Scandinavia where you can see traditional Scandinavian folk, in particular museums, handicraft shops and festivals of culture. Museums What is different about these styles is that the designs are more refined and sleeker in appearance. We also see a finer delineation of curves and the characteristic spiral that accentuates and defines the hip areas of the four-legged animal appear smaller. The decorations on the ax head appear on both sides. One side appears mainly with interlacing tentacle-like formations, these are also described as “foliate” patterns. The other side depicts what appears to be a giant bird-like figure with similar tentacle-like (foliate) formations intertwining with it. Erik Werenskiold and Theodor Kittelsen are the fairytale artists of Norway. Together, they illustrated numerous fairy tales from Asbjørnsen and Moe, giving faces to key characters in Norwegian folklore.

The Sámi Dáiddamagasiidna (the Sámi Art Collection) holds a large collection of duodji and Sámi-produced art. While this collection is closed to the public, it lends its pieces to both the Sámi Parliament building and Sámiid Vuorká-Dávvirat (the Sámi Museum in Karasjok), which are open for visitors. The Várjjat Sámi Musea (the Varanger Saami Museum) also has a large collection of duodji on display. Famous Norwegian artists Scandinavian folk art is often showcased at cultural festivals and events, such as the Bergen International Festival in Norway, and during the Midsommar celebrations in Sweden. Where can you see modern Scandinavian folk art?

How to draw Scandinavian folk art 

This is the traditional folk art of Scandinavia, and it is a rich and fascinating part of the region’s cultural heritage. Rosemaling is a relatively young form of folk art, developing in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was influenced by other popular European art styles of the time, including Baroque, Regency and Rococo, which is evident in the paintings’ colours and use of “S” and “C” curves. Scandinavian folk art is often considered a symbol of the region’s cultural history and has captivated audiences for generations with its beauty and ingenuity. What does Scandinavian folk art usually look like?

The art is characterised by vibrant colours, intricate patterns and imaginative themes which often feature depictions of nature, animals and folklore.Traditional Greenlandic clothing is decorated with bright patterns and designs, as well as abstract shapes and symbols.

Dating roughly from 1880 to 1910, Art Nouveau marked the beginning of Modernism and took nature as its inspiration. The use of decorative elements in domestic settings could even be viewed as metaphors for the status of the individual in society, and they made it evident that people were eager to break away from forms and set rules. More obvious social commentary was starting to emerge in art. Left: Cover art for the Norwegian woman’s magazine Urd, Andreas Bloch and Olaf Krohn, 1900–1905. Scandinavian art and Scandinavian folk art are two distinct forms of artistic expression that have unique characteristics.

Shortly after 1880, William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement, inspired by the social theories of John Ruskin, began expressing their distaste for the Industrial Revolution’s machine-made designs. They denounced the uniform and monotonous products that the machine stood for, and they revitalized traditional methods of manufacturing; in the textile arts, for example. Defending and praising nature in art, human creativity and faithfulness to traditional materials, they upheld Romanticism and folk tradition in all manner of crafts. Left: A French advertisement for biscuits in the Art Nouveau style, Alfons Mucha, 1896. For Werenskiold, illustrating fairy tales seems to have been the exception in his artistic style. He was part of the naturalist (or realist) movement, and the majority of his art depicts the everyday life of ordinary people, often outdoors. Nøkken som hvit hest (The Nøkk as a White Horse), Theodor Kittelsen, 1909 It is important to remember that these styles were created retroactively by historians to group art styles by certain characteristics. The boundaries between them are not always clear cut. Norwegian folk art Both texts were written by different authors; the Prose Edda was written by Snorri Sturluson, a poet and historian from Iceland. The author for the later text is still unclear and with many theories pointing to the work compiled by various poets, who also passed down the stories orally.