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A parallel in pictures to the world of Persephone Books.

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27th June 2025

Hannah Ryggen is widely recognised as an important artist in Scandinavia, but is less well-known elsewhere including the UK, despite a successful exhibition of her work at Modern Art Oxford in 2017 (and excellent reviews). She herself looked beyond her small farm and was fully aware of international politics and culture. This is Poem by TS Eliot (1952) which includes translated lines from "Little Gidding" (1942) and Ryggen herself, with yarn and weaving shuttle in her hands.  


26th June 2025

In the 1930s and 1940ss, Hannah Ryggen creates a series of large-scale anti-fascist tapestries. As The Met says, "Despite her remote location, she was remarkably attuned to the political tumult of her time, and her narrative textiles fiercely critique authoritarianism, war, and abuses of power. Her practice, steeped in representation, pushes against the notion that textiles are a craft based on patterns and decoration." When the war came to Norway in 1940, Ryggen's husband was arrested and sent to Grini prison camp where he was forced to paint warning signs for minefields, as depicted in Grini (1945). 


25th June 2025

The National Museum in Oslo calls Hannah Ryggen an "eternal activist" who, with her textile art, "fought against war, abuse of power and social injustice". This is Fishing in the Sea of Debt (1933) which depicts the devastating impact of debt and economic hardship on individuals and families, particularly the fishing community of Ørlandet, during the 1930s economic depression. A rich woman enjoys lunch, a banker sits with his fishing line on the surface of the sea which drags down a father and his drowning children, and a doctor takes the last coin of a dead man who lies on the ground nearby. A bleak but true impression of contemporary life for many Norwegians.


24th June 2025

Hannah Ryggen used wool from her own sheep which she carded, spun, and dyed with natural dyes made from locally foraged plants, lichens, and bark. Ryggen did not work from sketches or plans, but created her compositions directly on the loom with a variety of weaving techniques, resulting in simplified figures set against striking organic and geometric patterns. This is "Ja, vi elsker" (1950, Trondheim), a title taken from the opening words of the Norwegian national anthem.


23rd June 2025

A visit to Trondheim in Norway has provided an introduction to the weaver, Hannah Ryggen (1884-1970), who is the subject on the Post this week. She is one of Scandinavia's most distinctive and influential textile artists of the 20th century, using her tapestries to engage with and comment on important contemporary issues such as resistance to war, abuse of power, social injustice, and women's rights. Born and educated in Sweden, in 1924 she moved to a small family farm in Ørlandet near Trondheim with her husband, artist Hans Ryggen. There, completely self-taught, she began weaving her tapestries on a loom specially designed by Hans.


20th June 2025

Julian Francis' book contains a wealth of images which illustrate the breadth of Herry Perry's talents and skills and which cannot be found easily anywhere else. For example, in the 1950s she was commissioned to design and paint pub signs for Barclay's brewery in London and for Friary Mieux in Guildford. The art of often short-lived, hand-painted pub signs is a dying one as this article, which includes a Herry Perry pub sign, makes clear. Fortunately, the book has many examples of her colourful, clever, eye-catching designs, such as this preparatory drawing.


19th June 2025

Herry Perry is best known for her London Transport posters which were an important source of income for her. Commissioned by Frank Pick, she produced fifty-four posters which often incorporated pictorial maps, another area of her expertise and interest. This is ‘Kew’ (1929), which is not only full of factual interest, but also accurate in rendering 5 inches to a mile. 

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