Charlotte Ashby Knihy

Scandinavia is a region associated with modernity: modern design, modern living and a modern welfare state. This new history of modernism in Scandinavia offers a picture of the complex reality that lies behind the label: a modernism made up of many different figures, impulses and visions. It places the individuals who have achieved international fame, such as Edvard Munch and Alvar Aalto in a wider context, and through a series of case studies, provides a rich analysis of the art, architecture and design history of the Nordic region, and of modernism as a concept and mode of practice. Modernism in Scandinavia addresses the decades between 1890 and 1970 and presents an intertwined history of modernism across the region. Charlotte Ashby gives a rationale for her focus on those countries which share an interrelated history and colonial past, but also stresses influences from outside the region, such as the English Arts and Crafts movement and the impact of emergent American modernism. Her richly illustrated account guides the reader through key historical periods and cultural movements, with case studies illuminating key art works, buildings, designed products and exhibitions.

Introduction: new horizons: art, architecture and design at the Fin-de-sic̈le -- 1: In what style should we build? Form and ornament -- 2. Nature and new forms -- 3. Myths and legends: symbolism and visions of other worlds -- 4. The patron-collector -- 5. Print: the explosion of visual culture -- 6. The designer and the manufacturer -- 7. Art nouveau and transportation -- 8. Psychology and the modern mind in crisis -- 9. Dream spaces: the Fin-de-siecle interior -- 10. Art nouveau and the modern woman -- 11. Colonialism, imperialism and transnational art nouveau -- 12. Art nouveau sculptures and the modern body -- Conclusion. The multiple and the elite in a world of change.

The period from the 1870s to the 1920s was marked by an interplay between nationalisms and internationalisms, culminating in the First World War, on the one hand, and the creation of the League of Nations, on the other. The arts were central to this debate, contributing both to the creation of national traditions and to the emergence of ideas, objects and networks that forged connections between nations or that enabled internationalists to imagine a different world order altogether. The essays presented here explore the ways in which the arts operated internationally during this crucial period of nation-making, and how they helped to challenge national conceptions of citizenship, society, homeland and native tongue. The collection arises from the AHRC-funded research network Internationalism and Cultural Exchange, 1870–1920 (ICE; 2009–2014) and its enquiry into the histories of cultural internationalism and their historiographical implications. This collection has been edited by members of the ICE network convened by Grace Brockington and Sarah Victoria Turner.