Scandinavian Women Artists in and beyond Paris, c. 1900-1930

This thesis examines the experiences of Scandinavian women artists who travelled to Paris in the early twentieth century and encountered new freedoms, opportunities, and inspirations away from their home countries. A rich international field of study already positions women artists in histories of modernism, yet feminist approaches have had little landfall in Scandinavia where accounts of modern art remain defined by national boundaries and the consideration of the activities and contributions of women is minimal. This thesis challenges prevailing paradigms by centring Scandinavian women as agents of international modernism and by analysing their strategic pathways to achieve their artistic goals and find recognition. Using extensive primary and archival sources, the thesis traces Scandinavian women’s experiences before, during, and after a period of working in Paris. The first chapter describes women’s limited access to artistic training and their exclusion from exhibition groups at home and probes their motivations for expatriating. The second and third chapters examine ways in which Scandinavian women engaged with the Paris art world, focusing on their experiences in independent art schools and on their exhibition activities, arenas where foreign women could experiment with new artistic tendencies, develop their careers, and establish new networks and collaborations. The fourth chapter turns to the process of homecoming, an essential yet understudied aspect of artistic mobility, to explore how cosmopolitan women in the modernist vanguard navigated the return to their home countries. One of the primary outcomes of this thesis is a critical history of the structures that affected women artists and their work in Scandinavia. The thesis also provides the first extensive study of Scandinavian women’s engagement with the international avant-garde in Paris. Ultimately, the project sheds new light on the conditions of production and reception for radical women artists, women’s involvement in Franco-Scandinavian artistic exchange, and on the diverse aesthetics and politics of Scandinavian modernism.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Bornø, Aisha Lovise Maud

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Blakesley, Rosalind

• Artistic training
• Cultural exchange
• Exhibition histories
• Franco-Scandinavian relations
• History of Art
• Parisian avant-garde
• Scandinavian modernism
• Women artists

Licence

• https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/6f0792be-1e8c-4094-8751-a4b1282439c8/download
• https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/

Language dc:language

eng

DOI dc:identifier.doi

https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.109006

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/369048