Karin Bergöö Larsson and the Nordic Handicraft Revival

Join ASI and Dr. Michelle Facos for an art history lecture about Karin Larsson and the Nordic handcraft revival.

Karin Bergöö Larsson (1859-1928) was a path-breaking painter and textile artist whose designs helped shape Swedish Modernism. But did you know she was part of a broader, pan-Nordic handicraft revival? Inspired by the English artist-designer William Morris’s Arts and Crafts Movement, which began in 1860s London, the Nordic handicraft revival had three goals: the preservation of vanishing artisanal skills, the construction of national identities rooted in history and tradition, and the fostering of a democratic, egalitarian society. Just how did Bergöö Larsson fit in with these initiatives? Join Swedish art expert Michelle Facos to find out!

About Dr. Michelle Facos

Michelle Facos is Professor of Art History at Indiana University-Bloomington and a leading international expert on Nordic art. Her book Nationalism and the Nordic Imagination. Swedish Art of the 1890s (University of California Press, 1998) was the first ever study of Swedish National Romantic painting, and her essays about the Larssons have been published in Finland, Germany, Norway, and Sweden. She is currently co-curating an exhibition, “Home as History: Scandinavian Art 1880-1920,” for the Frick Museum in Pittsburgh that will open in September 2025. It will be the first ever exhibition to show Nordic fine and folk art together as equally valuable artistic expressions. Follow @homeashistory for updates and behind-the-scenes insights.