From ›Beauty and Festivity‹ to ›Accept the Reality‹ — the Comprehensive Modern Vision of the Stockholm Exhibition 1930 and Acceptera

Seelow AM (2024)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Conference contribution, Conference Contribution

Publication year: 2024

Publisher: ETH Zürich

City/Town: Zürich

Pages Range: 20–39

Conference Proceedings Title: Essays from the 2nd International Symposium on the Architecture of Erik Gunnar Asplund

Event location: Stockholm

ISBN: 978-3-907363-70-6

URI: https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/entities/publication/16537e8f-7f45-495c-be16-4e30ec75e8ac

DOI: 10.3929/ethz-b-000666435

Open Access Link: https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/entities/publication/16537e8f-7f45-495c-be16-4e30ec75e8ac

Abstract

Modernism in the Nordic countries is not the result of a revolution following World War I and the avantgarde movements they bring to the forefront—as it is the case, for instance, with Neues Bauen in the Weimar Republic.

On the one hand, modernism in the Nordic countries is the result of local developments, such as a gradual abstraction of Nordic classicism as well as some early rationalization efforts undertaken to combat the housing scarcity after World War I—carried out e.g. by Osvald Almqvist (1884–1950), Sven Wallander (1890–1968) and the housing co-operative HSB (Hyresgästernas Sparkasse- och Byggnadsförening) or the Architecture and Engineering office of the Swedish Co-operative Union (Kooperativa Förbundets Arkitekt- och Ingenjörsbyrå) under the direction of Eskil Sundahl (1890–1974). On the other hand, modernism in the Nordic countries is heavily shaped by the reception of modernism on the European continent and its transfer to the north by pioneers such as Uno Åhrén (1897–1977), Sven Markelius (1889–1972) and others in the later half of the 1920s.

In this context, the Stockholm Exhibition 1930 of Arts and Crafts and Home Industries (Stockholmsutställningen 1930 av konstindustri, konsthantverk och hemslöjd) and the manifesto Acceptera published the following year are of special significance. The exhibition is organized by the Swedish Arts and Crafts Society (Svenska Slöjdföreningen), managed by its director, the art historian Gregor Paulsson (1889–1977), and designed to a large extent by Gunnar Asplund (1885–1940) and a few colleagues. Acceptera is published by the exhibition organizer Gregor Paulsson and the architects involved with the exhibition, i.e. Gunnar Asplund, Wolter Gahn (1890–1985), Sven Markelius, Eskil Sundahl and Uno Åhrén.

Authors with CRIS profile

Atli Magnus Seelow Institut für Kunstgeschichte

How to cite

APA:

Seelow, A.M. (2024). From ›Beauty and Festivity‹ to ›Accept the Reality‹ — the Comprehensive Modern Vision of the Stockholm Exhibition 1930 and Acceptera. In Patrick Fleming, Petronella Mill (Eds.), Essays from the 2nd International Symposium on the Architecture of Erik Gunnar Asplund (pp. 20–39). Stockholm, SE: Zürich: ETH Zürich.

MLA:

Seelow, Atli Magnus. "From ›Beauty and Festivity‹ to ›Accept the Reality‹ — the Comprehensive Modern Vision of the Stockholm Exhibition 1930 and Acceptera." Proceedings of the The Second International Symposium on the Architecture of Erik Gunnar Asplund, Stockholm Ed. Patrick Fleming, Petronella Mill, Zürich: ETH Zürich, 2024. 20–39.

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