Anders Zorn är allmänt ansedd som en av sin tids främste porträttkonstnärer och bland hans mest upphöjda modeller hittar vi diverse medlemmar i den svenska kungafamiljen. I den här uppsatsen undersöks tre av hans kungliga porträtt utförda mellan åren 1898 och 1909. De tre porträtten är alla målade i olja på duk och föreställer de två kungarna Oskar II och Gustaf V samt änkedrottning Sofia av Nassau. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka Zorns kungliga porträtt i relation samtida framställningar av kungligheter, den kungliga porträttraditionen i Sverige och statsporträttet som genre. Frågeställningarna centrerar kring hur porträtten förhåller sig till den kungliga porträttraditionen, hur Zorn använde sig av klädsel och attribut och vilken effekt det fick i hans framställningar, i vilken utsträckning som hans verk följer den traditionella kungliga ikonografin och hur den personliga relationen till kungligheterna påverkade framställningarna av dem. Undersökningen utgår ifrån en semiotisk bildtolkning av de tre verken och uppsatsens teoretiska perspektiv utgår ifrån T.J. Clarks beskrivning av socialhistorisk konstvetenskap. Resultatet visar att Zorn använder sig delvis av den kungliga ikonografin samt använder sig av element vanliga inom statsporträttets genre samtidigt som han i det stora bryter med traditionen både när det kommer till klädsel, attribut och komposition. Det har även framkommit att relationen till kungligheterna var nära och att detta säkerligen påverkade den informella tonen i Zorns kungliga porträtt. Undersökningen visar också att Zorns porträtt kommer till i en brytningstid där hans kungliga porträtt har mer likheter med de som kommer efter än de som har tillkommit tidigare. / Anders Zorn is generally considered one of the most prominent portrait painters of his time and among his subjects we find several members of the Swedish royal family. This thesis investigates three of his royal portraits painted between 1898 and 1909. The portraits are all painted in oil on canvas and depict two kings, Oscar II and Gustaf V, as well as the dowager queen Sofia of Nassau. The aim of the thesis is to investigate Zorn’s royal portraits in relation to contemporary depictions of royalty, the traditional royal portraiture in Sweden, and the state portrait genre. The questions focus on how the portraits relate to the royal portrait tradition, how Zorn used clothing and attributes and the effect this had in his representations, to what extent his work follows traditional royal iconography, and how his personal relationship with the royals influenced the representations of them. The investigation is based on a semiotic interpretation of the three works, and the essay's theoretical perspective is based on T.J. Clark's description of social art history. The results show that Zorn partially uses the royal iconography and elements common within the genre of the state portrait, while he also largely breaks with tradition in terms of clothing, attributes, and composition. It is also shown that the relationship with the royal family was close and that this certainly influenced the informal tone of Zorn's royal portraits. The investigation also shows that Zorn's portraits are produced at a turning point where his royal portraits have more similarities with those that follow than those that precede.

The goal undertaken in this Bachelor´s thesis was to establish, and possibly audit, the assumed motif, provenance, dating and formal style regarding two Medieval wooden sculptures depicting Saint Martin of Tours and Saint George. Both are preserved in the art collection formerly owned by one of the great Swedish artists and art collectors of the nineteenth century: Anders Zorn (1860-1920). The purpose of the study was to account for the two sculptures using the Iconographic analysis developed by Erwin Panofsky (1892-1968), and the style critical method founded by Giovanni Morelli (1816-1891). The goal was furthermore to incorporate the sculptures into a broader art historical context and discuss in what way history has impacted the usage of and attitude towards the Medieval wooden sculptures i Sweden. The result of the study concluded that the majority of what had earlier been assumed about the sculptures in regards to their respective motif, geographical orgin, style and age had been correct. Some new contributions were however made concerning similar representations, local contextualizations and the mere act of researching an object to which no major research had yet been devoted. The study also concluded that the ever changing usage of and attitude towards the Middle Ages from the Reformation during the sixteenth and seventeenth century until the beginning of the twentieth century, has likewise affected the usage of and attitude towards the medieval wooden sculptures. The consequences for the sculptures were never unequivocally positive or negative.

Den här uppsatsen utgör en undersökning av konstnärsrollen som den representeras i ett urval av självporträtt av konstnärerna David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl och Ander Zorn. Utifrån Michael Baxandalls teorier om the Period Eye så belyses ett antal kulturella omständigheter och sociala förhållanden som kan ha påverkat de två konstnärernas självporträtt och hur det kan anses relatera till samtida föreställningar om konstnärsrollen. Ur Erving Goffmans dramaturgiska perspektiv ses självporträtten som en del i ett framträdande där konstnärsrollen iscensätts. Detta innebär ett försök att närma sig ett synsätt som är samtida med konstnärerna och en nyanserad tolkning av konstverken. / : This essay consists of an investigation into the role of the artist as represented in a selection of self-portraits by the artists David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl and Anders Zorn. In accordance with Michael Baxandalls theories regarding the Period Eye, a number of cultural and social circumstances relating to the role of the artist influencing the self-portraits are investigated. From Erving Goffmans dramaturgical perspective the selfportraits are viewed as part of a performance where the role of the artist is acted out. This amounts to an attempt of a nuanced interpretation and a view contemporary to the artists time.

This master thesis explores the image of Japan in the artistic creations during Japonism in Sweden. Japan and Sweden first started trading in 1868 and knowledge about Japan in Sweden were limited at best. With the emergence of the Western art movement known as Japonism, ranging from 1858 to 1914, fascination for the unknown country grew in Europe. As the art movement Japonism became the first era of interest of Japan in Sweden, the portrayal and subsequent image of the country that emerged during this time is of interest to examine, as to better understand how Japan was imagined by Sweden. Herein, this study aims to analyse the portrayal of Japan in artworks from Swedish artists during Japonism in order to examine what components and ideas composed the image of Japan conveyed during Japonism. A collection of visual artworks depicting Japanese elements, based on Japonism associated artists and creators, have been collected using digital archives and databases to assess what is depicted and how by the creators. Japanese elements, such as objects, clothes, people and landscapes were subsequently analysed using a visual analysis based on researcher Jules David Prown’s three-step method of analysing historical objects. Using the concept of the image, as defined by scholar Torsten Burgman, as the basis of the analysis the depictions of Japanese elements are examined and categorised into several larger and smaller components. The examination is conducted within a framework of ethnocentrism and orientalism to contextualise the image of Japan with the thought structures in 19th century Sweden, as the creators portrayed Japan from both a Swedish and Western Eurocentric colonial perspective. As the source material is artistic depictions, an additional aesthetic framework was applied to contextualise the image of Japan with its artistic medium. Four major image components were found in the material: Japan presented as a commodity; Japanese things as something feminine; Japan as something faraway and exotic, contrasting the West; and Japan as a reference or commentary on the ongoing Japonism movement. The image of Japan found in these depictions of Swedish Japonism was a Eurocentric and ethnocentric understanding of the country. Japan and Japanese things, were imagined as something exotic and beautiful, and usually conveyed as exotic commercial flair for Western women.