LATEST NEWS

New members

Under 2024 five new members have been elected to the Art Academy:

Runo Lagomarsino, artist
Valeria Montti Colque, artist
Sirous Namazi, artist
Mattias Palme, architect
Martin Rörby, honorary member

> Read more

"Centralization of power within the culture is not desirable"

The Academy of Arts, the Academy of Music and KLYS, sign an open letter to the government regarding the proposed merger of the Cultural Council and the Artists' Council. 

Debate article published in Svenska Dagbladet on 16 May 2024 signed by Preses Helena Tallius Myhrman and members Ann-Sofi Noring and Håkan Rehnberg.

> To the article

Young cartoonists are rewarded by the King

The scholarships in the drawing competition 'The thinking hand' for 2024 awarded to Olivia Pettersson Fleur, Rakel Bergman Fröberg and Olle Witt.

The three scholarship recipients are each awarded SEK 100 from the Elisabeth and Gustaf Douglas scholarship fund established on the occasion of HM the King's 000th birthday.

The jury consisted of HRH Prince Carl Philip, Elisabeth Alsheimer Evenstedt, Permanent Secretary at the Academy of Fine Arts, artist Ernst Billgren, architect Louise Masreliez and artist John Stenborg, members of the Academy of Fine Arts. 

> Read more

Elizabeth Oscarsson

IN MEMORY

Elisabet Oscarsson (*19 December 1950 † died 15 December 2023)

Artist member Elisabet Oscarsson has died.  

NEWLY ELECTED MEMBERS

Leif Holmstrand. Photo: Björn Fritz.

LEIF HOLMSTRAND

Artist
Elected at the Assembly
November 27 2023

Leif Holmstrand is extremely productive and has created an unmistakable artistry with international bearing, it is distinctive and unique. > Read more

Louise Masreliez. Photo: Johan Fowelin.

LOUISE MASRELIEZ

Architect
Elected at the Assembly
November 27 2023

Materiality, spatial clarity and attention to detail are clear characteristics of Louise Masreliez's architecture. > Read more

From left in picture: Alfred Pohl, Lisa Jeannin and Johan Thurfjell.

AWARD OF SCHOLARSHIPS

We congratulate Alfred Pohl, Lisa Jeannin, Johan Thurfjell and Ann Böttcher who have each been awarded a scholarship.

Alfred Pohl was awarded the 2023 scholarship of SEK 35 from the Sven Erixson memorial fund with the justification: 

With paintings that capture the simple experiences, as well as the difficult and artistic ones, Alfred Pohl displays a perspective in true X-et spirit. Uncompromising color fields and lines define his everyday storytelling without losing the fragility of painting. The result is images that, despite their cohesive nature, lead us towards a sense of the unreality of reality. Images that are unclear yet familiar.

Lisa Jeannine was awarded the 2023 scholarship of SEK 95 from Ragnar von Holten's memorial fund with the following justification:

With a deep original imagination and anarchic humor, Lisa Jeannin creates as serious as surreal scenarios in drawing, film and installation. In parallel fantasy worlds, she tries to access the big existential questions with the help of alchemy and a series of absurd and lovable protagonists such as her own turtle or an animated light mask in a wheelchair. It is a complex artistic universe that she continues to expand with a seemingly inexhaustible energy and enthusiasm, always referring to the human search for meaning in existence.

Johan Thurfjell was awarded the 2023 scholarship of SEK 95 from Ragnar von Holten's memorial fund with the justification:

Johan Thurfjell's carefully constructed spatialities are like life metaphors. Through the very simplest materials, he shows us humanity, its origins, search for meaning and finitude. Sometimes barely visible, but always just as touching. Light in the dark.
Tracks something that has just passed and where the shadow confirms existence.

Ann Böttcher was awarded the 2023 scholarship of SEK 100 from Claes Bäckström's memorial fund with the justification:

Quite seamlessly, Ann Böttcher's drawings, textiles and installations contain an undercurrent of historical and ideological meanings, a double exposure of the artwork's integrity and a social history. Her meticulous, deeply meditative and Old Master pencil drawings of individual firs are part of a romantic genealogy from Caspar David Friedrich, Marcus Larson and CF Hill, a tradition that would eventually be overshadowed by the fir's role in Nazi mythology. With both suffering and melancholic reconciliation, Ann Böttcher considers the fleeting contradictions of signs and symbols, anchored in both European history and her own biography.

(Ann Böttcher could not attend the scholarship award ceremony)

Preses Helena Tallius Myhrman awards a scholarship from the Sven Erixson memorial fund to Alfred Pohl.
Preses Helena Tallius Myhrman distributes Ragnar von Holten's memorial fund to Johan Thurfjell.
Preses Helena Tallius Myhrman distributes Ragnar von Holten's memorial fund: to Lisa Jeannin.

TEN ROYAL ACADEMIES IN TIME AND SPACE

On the occasion of the jubilee year 2023, HM the King's 50 years on the throne, a series of lectures on the ten national academies was held in the autumn. In the Lecture Series, ten royal academies were highlighted that were created with an overall national responsibility within their respective specialist areas.
YOU TUBE

See the lectures afterwards
The lectures have been filmed and can be viewed afterwards via the Academy of Arts > You Tube channel 

FOLDER
Read more about the Royal Academies
In a > folders described the ten royal academies.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1606 – 1669. The oath of allegiance of the Batavians to Claudius Civilis 1661 –1662, oil on canvas. Since the year 1798, the King The Academy of Liberal Arts owns the artwork. Photo: Leif Mattsson.

DECIDE ON

The Batavian oath of allegiance to Claudius Civilis

The members of the Academy of Fine Arts have now decided on the question of depositing Rembrandt's work The Batavian oath of allegiance to Claudius Civilis.

The Batavian oath of allegiance to Claudius Civilis shall continue to be deposited in the National Museum and the previous agreement with its terms will be reviewed and extended for 7,5 years.

The National Museum looks favorably on national and international loans during the period in order to spread knowledge about this cultural heritage, its owners and about the National Museum. 

The National Museum will work actively for a long-term and sustainable solution for Rembrandt's masterpiece The Batavian oath of allegiance to Claudius Civilis.

The agreement has been made possible through a donation, and the donor wants to support two important institutions in Swedish cultural life in this way. Both are in need of financial contributions to nurture and develop their respective missions. That Rembrandt's work can continue to be displayed in the National Museum is decisive for the donor's decision.

PANEL CONVERSATION

On September 30, Dagens Nyheter published an article by the art critic Sonia Hedstrand in which she paints a series of challenges for the visual arts and visual artists and which ends with a call to the Academy of Arts: "Now we artists need our 300-year-old patron! The Academy of Arts! Where are you?"

To deepen the conversation, the Academy of Arts invites the National Association of Artists to a discussion about the role and voice of artists and the Academy of Arts in the social debate.

Date: 29 November 
Time: 17.00 – 19.00
Location: The Art Academy's Auditorium

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1606 – 1669. The oath of allegiance of the Batavians to Claudius Civilis 1661 –1662, oil on canvas. Since the year 1798, the King The Academy of Liberal Arts owns the artwork. Photo: Leif Mattsson.

THE Oath of Allegiance of the Batavians to CLAUDIUS CIVILIS

At the meeting on Monday 30 October, the members of the Academy of Fine Arts decided to table the issue of Rembrandt's  The Batver's Oath of Allegiance to Claudius Civilis.

IN MEMORY

(7 January 1930 – 12 October 2023)
Artist member Lars Olof Loeld has died.  

THE MOMENT BETWEEN BEFORE AND AFTER

Rembrandt's painting The Batavian Oath of Allegiance to Claudius Civilis.

Carl-Johan Malmberg, writer, author and honorary member of the Royal Academy of Liberal Arts.

"My book The moment between before and after is about Rembrandt van Rijn's late painting The Oath of Allegiance of the Batavians to Claudius Civilis, its background and genesis, motifs and possible meanings. The painting is one of Rembrandt's most important and most daring works, especially through its marvelous light, a triumph of both painting technique and mood creation. I would like to say that the painting is internationally the most significant work of art in Swedish ownership." → Read more

The book is available for sale in the Art Academy's café. 
Price: SEK 350 incl. VAT 

The Art Academy is one of many cultural institutions in Sweden that have human remains in their collections. These are skeletal parts that were previously used in the academy's anatomical teaching. The state of knowledge about the remains in the collection is currently limited and needs to be improved. The Academy of Fine Arts therefore welcomes the attention being paid to the issue and is now starting internal work to investigate the future of the remains.

Today, research and important conversations about the ethics of how remains of this kind should be handled are ongoing. Both within the museum world and contemporary art, the question has come up. The artist > Simon Ferners work is an example that shows how important it is to highlight this history and understand how it still affects us today. 

Links to previous research:

> Report on human remains in Swedish museum collections

> The research project Ethical Entanglements

 

THE ARTS ACADEMY IN BRIEF

  • Manages around 100 funds and foundations and annually distributes scholarships, prizes and grants to artists and architects of around SEK 7–10 million.
  • Arranges around 20 exhibitions per year and program activities linked to these, all with free admission.
  • Manages own property.
  • Cares for archives and collections that date back to the 1700th century.
  • Gives out 4–5 exhibition grants per year that include an exhibition and catalogue.
  • Awards two scholarships within the Bernadotte program which includes a year's studio stay, opportunity for collaboration with other academies and an exhibition.
  • Organizes a drawing competition for young cartoonists in collaboration with the Royal The court states where three scholars receive SEK 100 each.
  • Distributes funds for publication support.
  • Rents premises to actors in a wide cultural field and there are approx. 150 program activities per year in the building.
  • Conducts collaborative projects with sister academies.

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LECTURE SERIES

Ten Royal Academies
in time and space

A series of lectures on the ten national academies

The lecture series highlights ten royal academies that were created with an overall national responsibility within their respective specialist areas. A printed matter about the academies is being produced for the lecture series.


> Read more