Jag har med denna uppsats undersökt hur den franske målaren och skulptören Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985) arbetade med olika material med ett fokus på de materialval han gjorde för sina skulpturer. Jag har valt att se närmare på tre monumentala skulpturer som Dubuffet skapade under 1970-talet och även undersökt vad han genom verkens material kommunicerar. Vidare har jag analyserat och diskuterat verkens motiv och utformning för att understödja min diskussion om materialets egenskaper. Dubuffet intresserade sig som så många andra konstnärer för de avantgardisitska idéer som spred sig i mellankrigstidens Europa. Dubuffet ville föra en konstnärlig revolution mot den etablerade kultureliten och mot den klassiska konsten som han ansåg formats av den västerländska kulturen. Vidare var han mycket intresserad av material och hur material i sig kunde påverka konstens utformning och mening och han ägnade en stor del av sin karriär till att experimentera med olika naturliga material. Under 1960-talet började Dubuffet ägna all sin tid åt att skulptera och för de första skulpturserierna använde han endast naturliga och okonventionella material. Efter några år började Dubuffet istället arbeta med syntetiska material vilket jag för min uppsats har valt att undersöka anledningen till. Det naturliga som hans tidigare verk uttrycks av försvinner i samband med de nya syntetiska materialen. De syntetiska materialen bidrog dock till att Dubuffet enklare kunde skapa storskaliga verk då de inte var lika tunga utan enklare att hantera och arbeta med än de naturliga materialen. Jag har kommit fram till att materialets funktionalitet kan ha varit av betydelse då det syntetiska materialet troligtsvis är mer hållbart på längre sikt. De syntetiska materialen tror jag också lämpade sig bättre för det yviga och odetaljerade formspråket som jag anser samtliga undersökningsobjekt uttrycks av. Dock har jag kommit fram till att den djärvhet som jag anser karaktäriserar Dubuffets konst bibehålls och uttrycks även genom de senare verken skapade med de syntetiska materialen. Jag har dragit slutsatsen att Dubuffet genomgick en konstnärlig utveckling som innebar att han ville undersöka och arbeta med olika nya material för att kunna förverkliga sina konstnärliga visioner. Slutligen så tror jag att hans uppdragsgivares önskemål även kan ha påverkat hans val av material.

This paper is analyzing the Zlatan statue from an art -theoretical and -historical perspective, focusing on issues relating to its references to different sculptural traditions, its symbols of power and what consequences this has for the understanding of the artwork, and finally how the statue works as a portrait of the football player Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The analysis shows that the statue bears traces of both Greek sculptural tradition as well as fascist sculptural tradition, two imageries that shared the fascination for athletic body ideals but for completely different reasons. The paper also shows that the statue uses numerous symbols of power, symbols linked to the patriarchal dominance in public space, and builds on a long tradition of how men of power are portrayed in public art. Zlatan himself was involved in the design of his tribute portrait, something that here is interpreted as an attempt to subvert the inevitable ephemerality and thus uphold the myth of Zlatan.

A public work of art has something to say, both about itself and the place where it’s located. By analyzing two different pieces of art, this study will examine them in co- relation to the order of the artwork and the artistic intention of the artist, to see how well these intentions is communicated to a general audience. The analysis will be carried through on the grounds of Rosalind E. Krauss sculptural theory. Depending on the quality of this communication, the conclusion of this study shows what intentions are transmitted through this process to the audience, and discusses the potential flaws in the process from a public artwork being ordered to its meeting with the public eye.

Studiens syfte var att uppmärksamma den svenska konstnären Elli Hemberg. Som ett exempel på ett av konstnärens offentligt placerade verk, analyserades och tolkades skulpturen Tre löv (1974) med ikonografisk/ikonologisk teori och metod. Analysen inspirerades även av semiotisk och receptionsestetisk teori och metod. Konstnären gestaltade en skulptur i rostfritt stål föreställande tre löv. Genom att använda ett klart och enhetligt formspråk skapade konstnären balans och harmoni, men även liv och rörelse i skulpturen. Skulpturens inre mening tolkades som samtida kritik av modernismens konstutveckling. Olika slags kontexter kan ha avgörande betydelse för betraktarens tolkning av verket. / The aim of the study was to draw attention to the Swedish artist Elli Hemberg. As an example of one of the artist´s publicly placed works, the sculpture Three Leaves (1974) was analyzed and interpreted using iconographic/iconological theory and method. The analysis was also inspired using semiotic and reception aesthetic theory and method. The artist created a stainless steel sculpture representing three leaves. By using a clear and uniform design language, the artist created balance and harmony, but also life and movement in the sculpture. The inner meaning of the sculpture was interpreted as contemporary criticism of the development of art during the modern era. Different kinds of contexts can be decisive for the viewer´s interpretation of the sculpture.

The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyze the Swedish artist Marianne Lindberg De Geer’s public sculpture Jag tänker på mig själv in relation to the female nude as a traditional motif within the western art and aesthetic. The artwork in question depicts two naked upright standing women, one of whom is represented as emaciated and skinny and the other one as voluminous and fat. By using previous research on the subject of aberrant bodily representations as its main theoretical framework and with a methodological approach based on visual semiotics, this study has found that Jag tänker på mig själv is to be seen as a deviant representation of the female body in several ways. The way in which the female body is represented in Marianne Lindberg De Geer’s sculpture has shown to deviate not only from the traditional female nude but also from the visual norms that usually characterizes aberrant representations of the female-coded body.

This subject of interest in this paper is the ideas expressed and formulated in the making andinauguration of the Branting-monument at Norra Bantorget in Stockholm. The initiative for a monument honoring the late Social Democratic leader Hjalmar Brantingwas taken at the Swedish Social Democratic Party Congress in 1928. In 1935 the party board decided to give the task of designing the monument to the much renowned artist Carl Eldh. A national fund-raising campaign for the monument was also initiated. In1942 the model of the monument was completed, but because of the war it was stored in a shelter. On June 2, 1952 the monument was inaugurated with great ceremony. Old working movement songs and anthems were played and sung and speeches were made by the Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Stockholm City Council President Carl Albert Andersson, and three foreign guests: Salomon Grumbach, Camille Huysmans and Paul LöbeIn the Social Democratic daily press reporting on the inauguration and in the speeches from the inauguration one can track several important recurring themes. It is clear that they were eager to define Branting as a prudent reformist and anti-communist. It also points out that both Branting was a big Swede that the whole nation stood behind, but also a great European and internationalist. But it also adds time to let different people describe Branting on a personal level, thus both strengthening the heroic image of Branting and making the image of Branting more personal. Even liberal newspapers adopted much of this rhetoric. The only newspaper that in the true sense took a fairly critical stance in relationship to the inauguration was the communist Ny Dag.