This thesis describes and analyzes the symbolist artist Tyra Kleen’s life as a student and professional artist in late 1900th- and early 2000th-century, using biography as methodology, in combination with Pierre Bourdieu’s theories on Cultural Fields, and Feministic theory. A few of her Symbolistic art works will be analyzed using Ragnar Josephson’s theories on the Making of Art. The years in between 1892 – 1908 are in focus of the thesis, when the artist mainly lived, studied and worked abroad; in Germany, Paris and Rome.  Tyra Kleen (1874-1951) was born in Sweden, but lived for many years in Europe. She saw herself more as a European or a Cosmopolitan, than a Swedish person. She went to several art schools in Europe; in Dresden, Karlsruhe, Munich, Paris and Rome. She lived in Paris during the years of ”the fine de siècle”, and then moved to Rome where she lived and worked for almost ten years. During her years abroad, with influences from artists as Böcklin and Puvis de Chavannes, authors as Charles Boudelaire and Edgar Allan Poe, and from Theosophy, she picked up a continental Symbolistic style, that is unique, and is not to be found in any other Swedish artists’ styles. The thesis gives a new piece to the puzzle regarding Swedish late 1900th-early 2000th-century Art History.

The essay describes the transition of female artists from amateur to professional through an analysis of female participation in professional exhibitions during the early 20th century in Italy. Specifically, it examines the history of the Società delle Artiste, the group of pioneers who want to identify themselves in the field of professional art, and the first two exclusively women's international exhibitions organized in Italy. Furthermore, this study contains the analysis of part of the Swedish artist Tyra Kleen's correspondence with two exponents of the Italian cultural elite, Arnaldo Cervesato and Sibilla Aleramo. The method of analysis used is discourse analysis in combination with Pierre Bourdieu's theory of cultural fields.The study identifies the factors behind the change in the status of female artists in Italy as a product of the influence of the phenomenon of female associations as promoters of the "new woman" and her social positioning as a useful and functional element in general modern renewal. The analysis of Tyra Kleen's correspondence confirms the importance of the relational network required for a female artist in Italy to establish herself and identifies the connections to the sphere of women's associations. / Uppsatsen beskriver kvinnliga konstnärers övergång från amatörmässigt till professionellt slag genom analys av kvinnligt deltagande i professionella utställningar under början av 1900-talet i Italien. Specifikt granskas historien om Società delle Artiste, den gruppen av pionjärer som vill legitimera sig inom området för professionell konst, och de två första exklusivt kvinnliga internationella utställningar som organiserats i Italien. Vidare innehåller denna studie analysen av en del av den svenska konstnären Tyra Kleens korrespondens med två exponenter för den italienska kultureliten, Arnaldo Cervesato och Sibilla Aleramo. Analysmetoden som används är diskursanalys i kombination med Pierre Bourdieus teori om kulturfält. Studien identifierar faktorerna bakom förändringen i status för kvinnliga konstnärer i Italien som en produkt av inflytandet från fenomenet kvinnliga föreningar som främjare av den "nya kvinnan" och hennes sociala positionering som ett användbart och funktionellt inslag i  allmänn modern förnyelse. Analysen av Tyra Kleens korrespondens bekräftar vikten av det relationsnätverk som krävdes för att en kvinnlig konstnär i Italien skulle kunna etablera sig och identifierar kopplingarna till de kvinnliga föreningarnas sfär.

AI-generativa bildkonst verktyg använder sig av generative adversarial networks (GAN) för att skapa bilder. Generative adversarial networks blir desto bättre ju mer information den förses med. Denna studie undersöker hur teknologiskt accepterat det är med AI-genererade bildkonst verktyg med hjälp av modellen Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Syftet med studien är att undersöka om unga konstnärers syn och inställning på AI-genererad bildkonst och verktygets framfart samt om de anser att det är accepterat. Studien genomfördes med små n-studier med semistrukturerade intervjuer för att få en rik och detaljerad beskrivning om acceptansen kring AI-generativa bildkonst verktyg. Studiens intervjufrågor byggdes upp för att besvara TAM2s olika delar. Respondenterna var konstnärer från Sverige och valdes ut genom bekvämlighetsurval kombinerat med snowball sampling. Konstnärerna som intervjuades under studien var positivt inställda till att använda AI-bildverktygen som inspiration och hjälpmedel till deras egna konst, och de flesta konstnärerna ansåg inte att AI var ett hot för dem eftersom de höll på med fysiska konstverk, och såg AI mer som ett hot för digitala konstnärer. Dessutom tyckte de flesta konstnärerna i studien att även om det är en själv som har skrivit in instruktionerna till AI-bildverktygen för att få en genererad bild, så är det diskutabelt om man kan göra anspråk på verket. / AI generated visual art tools use generative adversarial networks (GAN) to create pictures and digital art. Generative adversarial networks get better the more information they are provided with. This study investigates how technologically accepted it is with AI generated visual art tools using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). This study was carried out with small n-studies with semi-structured interviews to get rich and detailed description of the acceptance of AI generative visual art tools. The study’s interview questions were built to answer the TAM2-model different parts. The respondents were artists from Sweden and were selected through convenience sampling combined with snowball sampling. The purpose of the study is to investigate how young artists view and attitude towards AI generated visual art and the progress of the tool and whether they believe it is accepted. The artists interviewed during the study were positive about using the AI generated art tool as an inspiration and aid to their own art, and most of the artists did not consider AI as a threat to them because they were doing physical artwork, seeing AI more as a threat to digital artists. In addition, most of the artists in the study felt that even if one has entered the instructions to the AI generating tools themselves to get a generated image, it is debatable whether one can claim the work. This thesis is written in Swedish.

With the outbreak of COVID-19, the Swedish government allocated specific financial support to cultural practitioners, however, excluding curators from this assistance. As a result, a group of engaged professionals formed the Swedish Curators’ Association, marking a recent effort in curatorial self-organization. This study aims to understand and illuminate the phenomenon of curatorial self-organization and how the experience of self-organizing is understood by curators in 2022. It investigates the past and current personal lived experiences of four curators through phenomenological methodological, and theoretical approaches. Next, the study explores how their perception correlates with the current curatorial lifeworld. At the core of this study is the hypothesis that in a consolidated lifeworld, curatorial self-organization becomes a model of a joint phenomenological body, functioning as a mechanism of sustainability, balance, and orientation due to the diversity of curatorial practices and experiences of its members. Archival materials and four interviews are at the core of the research. Study results showed that curatorial self-understanding and perception of self-organization are formed very individually; therefore, it would be inaccurate to generalize the phenomenon without having that in mind. Additionally, several internal and external factors played a significant role in the latest formation and perception of the phenomenon. The study also revealed that previous experiences of curatorial self-organizations have not been present in today’s active curatorial lifeworld, existing as familiar yet distant memories. Finally, the study goes beyond its initial hypothesis to find that the current attempt to self-organize curatorially in Sweden can be equated to a tool for curators to self-define, articulate the changing curatorial roles, and re-understand the essence of the profession.

Background: Since the 1980s, society has been hit hard by economization and deprofessionalization through neoliberal abstract forms of governance. Control is achieved by measuring efficiency through simplified models. The demand for measurability has also hit the art field where administration and paperwork have increased. As an effect, a large part of cultural funding goes to non-artistic activities. Values other than those of art are focused on and art institutions are having to adapt to the logic of the market and meet commercial interests. In addition, the conditions of artistic production have deteriorated: there are no resources, space or time yet, which threatens art production. The situation is, to say the least, strained for many artists, who are more or less forced into their own corporate activities by the field's surrounding organizations and institutions. However, there are those who work against this development and act for change. Artists have collectively organized themselves outside the city that no longer meets the condition for artistic production. They are about 40 organisations spread across Sweden. Through networks, they have united under one designation; the self-organized. They could be said to constitute a micro-resistance to the current order. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate what the self-organized means. Which ideas and practices make sense and distinction concerning the self-organised? We want to understand and highlight how the self-organised are motivated and how they go about trying to alter and expand the artistic field and the society at large. Methodology: Using a qualitative approach, the study has been a case study of a central actor in the self-organized fields; Art Lab Gnesta. Materials have been collected through a group interview, participant observation and through written sources produced by the study object itself. This is to better understand underlying ideas and what it is that makes sense for self-organized arts organizations. Conclusions: This study is about a possible institutionalisation process in its future. The self-organised is a kind of avant-garde of the 20th century. In this study, we conclude that the self-organised should be understood as a concept that provides alternative frameworks in a world characterized by an unsustainable order. The self-organised opens up opportunities and shows other ways to go. If many join the concept, changes can possibly be achieved. We have seen that they succeed in reaching out and are legitimized by both the authorities, the art world and the local population. When enough people act on similar ideas, they can constitute institutional pressure and possibly create change. We understand the self-organised as a predestination and a strategy for a potential future. It is about change, nothing else can be determined since we are in the initial stage of the course of event. They are a grassroots movement. / Bakgrund: Samhället har allt sedan 1980-talet drabbats av en hårt driven ekonomisering och avprofessionalisering via nyliberala abstrakta styrformer. Kontroll uppnås genom att via förenklade modeller mäta effektivitet. Kravet på mätbarhet har även drabbat konstfältet där administrationen har ökat. Således går en stor del av kulturfinansieringen åt till icke-konstnärlig verksamhet. Andra värden än den av konsten fokuseras och konstinstitutioner har i större utsträckning marknadsanpassas och möter kommersiella intressen. Utöver detta har konstnärers produktionsförhållandena försämrats: det finns inte rum, tid och resurser nog, varvid konsten hotas. Situationen är minst sagt ansträngd för många konstnärer, som mer eller mindre tvingats in i egen företagsverksamhet av fältets omgivande organisationer och institutioner. Det finns dock dem som tar spjärn mot denna utveckling och verkar för en förändring. Konstnärer har kollektivt organiserat sig utanför staden som inte längre erbjuder. De är ett fyrtiotal verksamheter spridda över Sverige. Genom nätverk har de förenat sig under en beteckning; de självorganiserade. De skulle kunna sägas utgöra ett mikro-motstånd mot rådande ordning. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vad de självorganiserade betyder. Vilka idéer och vad för praktiker ger mening och distinktion gällande de självorganiserade? Vi vill förstå och belysa hur de självorganiserade motiveras och hur de går tillväga för att försöka uppnå förändring av den ordning som de tar spjärn emot på det konstnärliga fältet och i samhället i stort. Metod: Utifrån en kvalitativ ansats har studien utgjorts av en fallstudie på en central aktör på de självorganiserades fält; Art Lab Gnesta. Material har samlats in genom en gruppintervju, en deltagande observation samt genom skriftliga källor producerade av studieobjektet själv. Detta för att bättre förstå bakomliggande idéer och vad det är som ger mening för självorganiserade konstorganisationer. Slutsatser: Denna studie handlar om en eventuell institutionaliseringsprocess i sitt blivande. De självorganiserade är ett slags 2020-talets avantgarde. I studien kommer vi fram till att de självorganiserade ska förstås som ett koncept som ger alternativa ramverk i en värld präglad av ohållbar ordning. De självorganiserade öppnar upp för möjligheter och visar på andra vägar. Ansluter många till konceptet kan eventuellt förändringar uppnås. Vi har sett att de lyckas nå ut och legitimeras av både makthavare, konstvärld och lokalbefolkning. När tillräckligt många handlar utifrån liknande koncept kan de utgöra ett institutionellt tryck och eventuellt skapa förändring på fältet. Vi förstår de självorganiserade som en predistination och en strategi för en potentiell framtid. Det handlar om förändring, inget annat kan slås fast då vi är i skeendets initiala stadie. De är en gräsrotsrörelse.

This thesis is about two Swedish artists named Julia Beck (1852–1935) and Maj Bring (1880–1971). The idea was to see what kind of differences there were between these two Swedish female artists. They both studied at the Swedish Art academy and both had very successful careers, though they belong to different generations of artist. The first question to be answered, was is if you could see any similarities or differences in their education and career. The other question in this thesis was how the female art was perceived during the different art exhibitions which Julia Beck or Maj Bring participated in. Could you see if the art were perceived and judged differently due to, they being female artist? And could you see if there were any kind of resistance towards them as artists or towards their art and if so, how did it express itself? To answer that question the analysis is based on art exhibit reviews with a theory based on a gender perspective and of Linda Nochlins essay Why have there been no great women artists? This to help with looking after what kind of social barriers or resistance is visible in these art critics reviews.                                                                  The results of the biographical comparison showed many similarities and some differences. Such as them both studying in Paris after their education in the Swedish Art academy and both frequently traveled back and forth to stay in France for as long as possible. Eventually Julia Beck moved to France and stayed there until her death. While Maj Bring lived her entire life in Sweden and started an art school in Stockholm and paused her artist career for a while. Meanwhile Julia Beck dedicated her entire life to her artistic career. In the results of the analysis, you could clearly see several kinds of resistance to both the female art and the female artists. They were very much treated differently than their male colleagues. For example, in Paris there were specific places where the female artists showed their art. The critique reviews often explained the female art with female qualities and said that female artist had specific characteristics that made them more qualified in specific areas that was thought women belonged too.

This essay examines how family-related violence was depicted in art in Sweden during the 70s, 80s and 90s. A major shift in the views of violence within the family and in relationships occurs during this period, which becomes evident through a change in laws but is also visible in an ongoing social debate. Basing my research on a number of works by female artists, depicting violence, I have analysed ways of interpreting and understanding the violence in these images, in relation to the changed views on family, gender roles and violence. The female perspective on violence is often the same as the perspective of the violated, and I have chosen to study female artists, thus assuming that a changed attitude is most clearly reflected in this group.The artists included in the study are Marie-Louise Ekman, Marja Ruta, Kristina Abelli Elander, Maria Lindberg, Maria Friberg and Monica Larsen Dennis, Helene Billgren, Tuija Lindström, Charlotte Gyllenhammar, Anna-Maria Ekstrand and Annika von Hausswolff.The works are grouped into four categories based on a model created by Gregory H. Stanton, which he developed in the survey of genocide. His model depicts ten stages in which violence slowly increases. My division is in four stages and is named structural violence, embodied acts of violence or abuse, crime victims or traces of crime, and consequences of violence. Seen over the period covered by the study, one can observe an increase in the number of images with violent content. The depictions change from being political messages to becoming more provocative and questioning power structures. This is a development which is happening simultaneously with the breakthrough of postmodern art.The artists have in several works been influenced by or relate to images of violence shown in news media and popular culture, a genre that grows during the 1980s home video epoch. But the art not only interacts with other visual media, it also wants to involve the viewer by exploring and questioning values and hierarchies in society.The girl as a symbol of an innocent victim is represented in several of the works, and the girls are given a much greater freedom of action in the artworks than in reality. A concealed aggression is made visible and in several of the works the girls act violators.Depiction of violence has not been treated as a theme or categorized as a separate genre in the arts. To the extent that I have found analyses of works containing violence in the arts, there has been a hesitative attitude and the images have been perceived as simple in a communicative or interpretive aspect. In my study, I come to another conclusion, Seeing that the processing of violence in the artistic works creates a counter-image to stereotypical and simplified images in media and and so helps us to see the normative values, power imbalances, behaviours and expectations that are often the basis for acts of violence.

Jag har ägnat denna uppsats åt att undersöka Kungliga Konstakademiens elevtidning Palettskrap från och med att det grundades 1877 till och med 1904.Tidningen består av anteckningar, protokoll och en mängd med bilder såsom porträtt, illustrationer och skämtteckningar. Mitt syfte har varit att se hur konflikten kring kvinnorollen generellt och kvinnliga konstnärsrollen specifikt kommer till uttryck under det sena 1800-talet i en intern elevtidning som Palettskrap. Jag har huvudsakligen utfört bildanalyser men även lyft fram text ur Palettskrap som har varit relevant för mitt ämne. Jag har analyserat bildernas uttryck och bildbudskap utifrån Roland Barthes semiotiska metod. För en genusmedveten och kritisk blick på det konsthistoriska sammanhanget, har jag har tillämpat ett feministiskt perspektiv som varit verktyg för att dekonstruera den maskulina myten om modernismen och konstnären. Min undersökning visar att det finns två etablerade stereotyper/kategorier av den kvinnliga konstnären: den ”okvinnliga” konstnären och ”amatören”. Dessa två stereotyper återspeglar den borgerliga synen på kvinnlighet/femininitet som oförenlig med konstnärsrollen. / I have dedicated this essay in researching the journal Palettskrap founded by students at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in 1877. Palettskrap consists of notes, protocols and a variety of images such as portraits, illustrations and satirical cartoons. My purpose has specifically been to see how the conflict of the woman artist is articulated during the late 1800's in a student journal such as Palettskrap, and also more generally, how the woman's role in society is articulated. I have primarily analyzed images but I have also exposed text from Palettskrap which has been relevant to my subject matter. By using Roland Barthes' semiotics, I have analyzed the images' expression and message. For a gender-sensitive and critical eye on the art historical context, I have applied feminist theory which has been useful in deconstructing the masculine myth on modernism and ”the artist”. My research shows that there are two established stereotypes/categories of the woman artist: the ”unwomanly” artist and the ”amateur”. These two stereotypes reflect the bourgeois notions of womanhood/femininity as incompatible with the role of the artist.