DaybreakThe Hitler-Carpet other
- Artist: Hannah Ryggen
- Creation date: 1936
About
The Swedish-born artist Hannah Ryggen lived most of her life with the painter Hans Ryggen in Ørland in Sør-Trøndelag. Trained as a painter and with some courses in weaving, she became a pioneer in Norwegian textile art. Her breakthrough came in 1935 with the tapestry Ethiopia, where she flagged her political views in earnest.
Ryggen’s tapestries present us with a number of individual fates, and her political and social standpoints as a feminist and pacifist often come to the fore in her works. In The Hitler-Carpet from 1936, she shows some of the horror that Hitler’s regime could lead to. Two people, perhaps a man and a woman, are on their knees with their arms bound and their heads decapitated. Above them hovers a cross, the symbol of Christianity. The cross is on the verge of tipping over, alluding to the absence of Christian values such as tolerance and compassion in the Third Reich. The colour scheme is restricted to shades of brown, yellow, and reddish pink. The shape of the cross is defined by a broad, dark contour, created in floss. The cross is decorated with eleven squares, the same number as Jesus’ disciples discounting the traitor Judas, and the year 1936 has been woven into its nexus.
Ryggen span and dyed her yarn herself, thus allowing her to control its structure and colouring. She would usually work freely at the loom without sketches or cartoons. In line with contemporary painting, Ryggen worked with the surface and was an early exponent of Norwegian modernism.
- Creation date:
- 1936
- Other titles:
- Morgengry (NOR)
Hitlerteppet (NOR) - Object type:
- Tapestry
- Materials and techniques:
- Håndvevd billedvev i gobelinteknikk og halvfloss, renning og innslag av ulltråd
- Material:
- Saueull
- Dimensions:
- Width: 170 cm
- Vevbredde: 299 cm
- Height: 297 cm
- Length: 7.5 cm
- Diameter: 16 cm
- Keywords:
- Visual art, Textile
- Classification:
- 286.3 - Veving, 531.2 - Tekstil kunsthåndverk, 532 - Bildende kunst, 745.52 - Tekstilkunst
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Other works by Hannah Ryggen
Første mai-togHannah Ryggen1935
The Use of HandsHannah Ryggen1949
NøkkenHannah Ryggen1923
SpaniaHannah Ryggen1938
GesandtHannah Ryggen1967
På det landet Olav malte korset med sitt blodHannah Ryggen1930-1933
BookwormsHannah Ryggen1968
The Lapwing at ØrlandetHannah Ryggen1950-tallet- "The long Heart"Hannah RyggenAntakelig 1960-tallet
Traditional blueHannah Ryggen1963
HorrorHannah Ryggen1936
Salvador DaliHannah RyggenAntakelig 1960-tallet


















































