MARGHERITA MACCAPANI MISSONI AT SVENSKT TENN / STOCKHOLM
Art history is filled with depictions of leisurely summer picnics and outdoor dinner parties.
The most famous is perhaps Edouard Manet’s “Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe”, in which three people – two clothed men and one naked woman – have a picnic in the woods.
In Scandinavian art, the most famous depiction of a summer party would be “Hip hip hurra! Kunstnerfest på Skagen” by Danish artist Peder Severin Krøyer.
The painting shows Krøyer’s friends and family around a table in the garden of his home in the seaside town of Skagen.
And not many summers ago, following the popular adaption to cinema of the novel “Call Me By Your Name”, people journeyed to Tuscany, intent on recreating the many garden luncheons that made the film seem so seductive.
At Strandvägen 5 in Stockholm, Margherita Maccapani Missoni has curated this year’s summer exhibition.
Founded by Estrid Ericson and made internationally famous through the many collaborations with designer Josef Frank, Svenskt tenn is one of the world’s leading interior stores, operated by a foundation intent to both preserve the history of Svenskt tenn and to support contemporary and future designers.
Named “Greetings from Margherita”, the exhibition is meant to remind the visitor of a summer postcard.
In the rectangular space facing Strandvägen, and by applying a contemporary perspective on the archives of Svenskt tenn, Missoni has created a series of tables and picnic scenarios.
At the press breakfast, she explained: “I discovered Svenskt tenn and Josef Frank about ten years ago. When I was asked to do this project, I immediately said yes. During my research, I realized that Estrid Ericson was really fond of picnics. I’m myself also really fond of picnics, so this was the starting point. Everything else was quite spontaneous.”
Not surprisingly, the theme of the exhibition is Italian craftsmanship, as many of the items on display are made by Italian designers and mirror an Italian sense of lazy summer days.
