"Blå figur"
Signed Wedel. Executed in 1940. Batik print. 228 x 84 cm.
Nils and Alice Wedel.
Thence by descent.
"Art in Swedish Homes," vol. 1, listed p. 176 under collection 240: "Wedel Nils, Artist, Jaktgatan 5, Gothenburg."
Alice Wedel was one of the country's most talented textile artists, and in the 1930s she produced a number of post-cubist batiks with musical instruments based on cardboard boxes composed by her husband Nils Wedel (1897-1967). The batik “Blue Figure” is characterised by Nils's geometric shapes, stylised figures and structured composition.
Together, the artist couple experimented with a new mural technique they called navax. The new technique allowed the pre-coloured but not yet waxed batik fabric to be attached to a wax-prepared panel or wall surface. The fabric was then “melted” into the surface using a blowtorch and hot irons.
Alice Wedel's own compositions were softer in style than her husband's, with elements of oriental splendour and the mosaics of Ravenna. Her more famous works include the composition Bouquet from 1955 and the bird image Eget bo, both of which were executed with great craftsmanship and artistic ingenuity.
Alice Wedel participated in the World Exhibition in Paris in 1925, where she was awarded a gold medal (the diploma has been saved and is included in the picture), and in the Stockholm Exhibition in 1930. Wedel is represented at the Röhsska Museum of Crafts, the National Museum, Norrköping Art Museum, Malmö Museum and Sahlgrenska Hospital.