Pentecost Choir (tapestry)

The tapestry is the left wing of a diptych its pair is in a private collection in Norway. In front of a bright blue background ten women stand in prayer, their eyes fixed at the sky. Their bodies are schematic, two-dimensional, space only being suggested by the checkered floor shown foreshortened. On the left a thick bunch of narcissuses frame the composition. In the greenish border the inscription PINTSE (Whitsun) can be red. The word CHOR adorns the other wing. On the left in the upper black rim the sign FRIDA HANSEN 1897 can be read. Frida Hansen (1855–1931) was among the most outstanding tapestry artists of the late 19th century. Prior to the turn of the century, a movement was launched in the Scandinavian countries to revive the old techniques of weaving and embroidering only preserved by a few peasant families. In addition to the preservation of traditions and the promotion of home crafts, the central aim was the renewal of the applied art on a national basis at high level of artistry. To this end, a crafts association and a dye factory producing vegetable dyes were founded in Norway in 1891. Weaving schools were established in several settlements where tapestries were woven after the designs of noted artists. Frida Hansen also began her career as a weaver, and later she also designed her works. She had great success at the exhibition of Norwegian crafts in 1890–1891 with her works resuscitating Scandinavian motifs. Hungarian artists could first see her gobelins at the Modern Art exhibition in the Museum of Applied Arts in 1898. Her artistic outlook and formal idiom rooted in folk art inspired such noted Hungarian figures and groups as Sarolta Kovalszky (Wittman) (1850–?) and the workshop at Nemetelemer (today Elemir, Serbia) as well as the Godollő Art Colony.