Axel Petersson Döderhultarn
Encyclopedia
Woodworking
Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...
, (December 12, 1868 – March 15, 1925) was one of the recognized masters of wood carving
Wood carving
Wood carving is a form of working wood by means of a cutting tool in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object...
, most famous for Scandinavian flat-plane style of woodcarving
Scandinavian flat-plane style of woodcarving
The Scandinavian flat-plane style of woodcarving is a style of figure carving. The figures are carved in large flat planes, created primarily using a carving knife. Tool marks are left in the carving and very little rounding or sanding is done...
.
Early years
Axel Petersson Döderhultarn was born December 12, 1868 in the parish of Döderhult, Sweden (Oskarshamn MunicipalityOskarshamn Municipality
Oskarshamn Municipality is a municipality in Kalmar County in south-eastern Sweden, where the city Oskarshamn is seat....
). As a boy his primary interests was in whittling
Whittling
Whittling is the art of carving shapes typically out of raw wood or bone with a knife.Whittling is typically performed with a light, small-bladed knife, usually a pocket knife. Specialised whittling knives are available as well...
, and carving
Wood carving
Wood carving is a form of working wood by means of a cutting tool in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object...
small figures. This activity was considered worthless by his friends and family in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. His family decided the best thing for him to do as a young adult was to emigrate
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Peterson did not emigrate to America, as his family had planned, and after a brief time away he moved back to help his now widowed mother in Oskarshamn
Oskarshamn
Oskarshamn is a coastal city and the seat of Oskarshamn Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 17,258 inhabitants in 2010.-History:The location of Oskarshamn was known as Döderhultsvik since the Medieval age...
, Sweden.
He worked on figure carving and sold figurines in the local market in Oskarshamn. Most of the figures he sold were refined tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
al wood carvings. Sometime around 1900 he began to carve in a minimalist
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
style, these are the carved figures he is most famous for. Many of these carvings sold in the local market for ($1.00-$2.00)USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
. Adjusted for inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
what cost $1.50 in 1900 would cost $33.23 in 2005.
Recognition
In 1909, Peterson was invited to participate in an exhibitionArt exhibition
Art exhibitions are traditionally the space in which art objects meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" or...
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. The public response to his work was overwhelming. Georg Nordensvan wrote in the Dagens Nyheter
Dagens Nyheter
is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It has the largest circulation of Swedish morning newspapers, followed by Göteborgs-Posten and Svenska Dagbladet, and is the only morning newspaper that is distributed to subscribers across the whole country. In 2009 DN had a circulation of 316,000, reaching 881...
newspaper on January 20, 1909 "Axel Petersson's old men are irresistibly amusing. The depict such primitive art as one could wish for, made out of a couple of simple contours using only a couple of strokes, but, from an artist with sure eye and nimble hands. It is a new conception with a personal touch...small masterpieces of complete nonconformative art."
After his success with the Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
exhibition some of the museums in Sweden began purchasing his work. He had many requests to exhibit his work throughout Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the United States. In 1911 fifty-seven of his figures were on display in Oskarshamn, and the groundwork was laid for a Döderhultarn Museum
Döderhultarn Museum
-General information:Axel Petersson "Döderhultarn" , was a famous Swedish woodcarver. In the Döderhultarn Museum there is a collection of his work, with more than 200 wooden sculptures...
.
The next year some of his work was shipped to the United States and the Swedish Consulate sent it on tour in several major cities.
Legacy
Döderhultarn became known as one of Sweden's great artistArtist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s. His work as well as photos of his work were circulated world wide. and he served as an inspiration to other woodcarvers, including Carl Johan Trygg
Carl Johan Trygg
Carl Johan Trygg, formally Carl Johan Thrygg, also knowns as C. J. Trygg, woodcarver, was one of the recognized masters of twentieth century woodcarving, most famous for Scandinavian flat-plane style of woodcarving. Between C. J. Trygg and his sons they carved over 10,000 figures...
, and H. S. "Andy" Anderson. His popularity was so great that "Döderhultarn figure" became the generic term for any small figure in the minimalist style.