Hjemlige Guder (Homely Gods)

Virtually unknown outside of Norway during her lifetime, the Sweden-born artist Hannah Ryggen wove large-scale allegorical tapestries that commented both on her own artistic life and on global geopolitics, from the rise of fascism to the Vietnam War to the American presidency. Trained as a painter, Ryggen abandoned the art form in 1922 to dedicate herself to weaving, which she taught herself. She produced her incisive accounts of twentieth century history from a homemade loom on her rural Norwegian farm (where she lived from the mid-1920s), using wool from her sheep and natural dyes made from foraged plants, lichens, and bark as well as urine and other materials. Ryggen began her compositions from scratch, eschewing any sketches or plans, resulting in simplified figures set against striking organic and geometric patterns. Despite her remote location, she was remarkably attuned to the political tumult of her time, and her narrative textiles fiercely critique authoritarianism, war, and abuses of power. Her practice, steeped in representation, pushes against the notion that textiles are a craft based on patterns and decoration.

Homely Gods uses a variety of weaving techniques and dyes to achieve Ryggen’s signature fusion of figuration and abstraction. In the 1930s, Ryggen's work was rejected from a competition to decorate Oslo City Hall, which was judged by nationalist painter Henrik Sørensen.　Homely Gods comments sarcastically on the Norwegian art scene, and on Sørensen’s outsized influence. The central figure on the right is the financier and art collector Rolf Stenersen, with his distinctive mustache, depicted as Thor wielding a hammer while accompanied by his two goats, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr. In the background, numbers refer to the business world and Edvard Munch's profile hovers at top right (Munch being perhaps the best-known Norwegian artist). Ryggen portrays Sørensen as Odin, holding his hand over Oslo City Hall, as his horse Sleipnir stands by. A woman, perhaps Ryggen herself, clasps her hands and observes the scene.