<p>Undersökningens syfte är att visa vad Föreningen Svensk Form/Svenska Slöjdföreningen i sin publicerade litteratur skrivit om vad svensk form är och vilket ursprung den har. Den undersökta perioden är 1950-tal till 1990-tal. Uppsatsen tar också upp vilka samtida debatter och samhällsangelägenheter man etablerat den svenska formen i och hur man använt dessa för att visa upp föreningen som aktiv samhällsmedborgare. Diskussionerna rör sig kring berättelsers etablerande, och maktpositioner i det offentliga samtalet. Resultatet av studien visar bland annat att Föreningen Svensk Form/Svenska Slöjdföreningen under den undersökta perioden fört fram en oförändrad bild av den svenska formen och dess ursprung. Beskyddare av olika konstformer har säkerligen sin plats i samhället, man bör dock diskutera deras makt att styra trenderna inom det område de är verksamma.</p>

Undersökningens syfte är att visa vad Föreningen Svensk Form/Svenska Slöjdföreningen i sin publicerade litteratur skrivit om vad svensk form är och vilket ursprung den har. Den undersökta perioden är 1950-tal till 1990-tal. Uppsatsen tar också upp vilka samtida debatter och samhällsangelägenheter man etablerat den svenska formen i och hur man använt dessa för att visa upp föreningen som aktiv samhällsmedborgare. Diskussionerna rör sig kring berättelsers etablerande, och maktpositioner i det offentliga samtalet. Resultatet av studien visar bland annat att Föreningen Svensk Form/Svenska Slöjdföreningen under den undersökta perioden fört fram en oförändrad bild av den svenska formen och dess ursprung. Beskyddare av olika konstformer har säkerligen sin plats i samhället, man bör dock diskutera deras makt att styra trenderna inom det område de är verksamma.

This is a study of the intersection between art historical theory and practice, and cultural heritage, where the revivals and mediations of the neoclassical Gustavian style have been used as a platform for further exploration. In relation to this, the use and changing meanings of the concepts authenticity and style have been examined. The research has a historiographical and multidisciplinary character, drawing on the fields of art history, critical heritage studies and design history. The study shows how the Gustavian style has been routinely used when Swedish culture has been staged, nationally and internationally, but also when shaping ideas of the ideal home and good taste. The focus is placed on three periods – the 1890s, the 1930s-40s and the 1990s – during which the Gustavian style was defined, revived and mediated in different modes of representation such as textbooks, exhibitions, period furniture and historically informed performances. In the study we meet the actors, human and non-human, that have contributed to the resilient position of the Gustavian style in the public consciousness and in a commercial context. The Gustavian style, perhaps like no other, has been systematically embraced by the official heritage institutions in Sweden, including the academic discipline of art history, which has been an important influence on the way the past has been presented, valued, categorised, preserved and re-used. The author argues that the style has been able to maintain its relevance due to its ability to embody many different prevailing aspects across the 20th century, for example tradition and modernity, nationalism and internationalism, but also the past, present and visions of retro-utopia.

<p>This thesis is structured in six chapters. Chapter I contains an introduction and includes purpose, theory, method, and concepts. The main purpose, as depicted by the title, is to examine the roots of Swedish ideology concerning what today is generally named design, as embodied in the concept of more beautiful or better things for everyday life (in Swedish: ”vackrare vardagsvara”).</p><p>Chapter II contains a background and includes philosophical ideas and aesthetic movements in Europe which have influenced the Swedish Society of Arts and Crafts (in Swedish ”Svenska Slöjdföreningen”, abbreviated SSF) which was later renamed the Swedish Society of Crafts and Design (in Swedish: ”Föreningen Svensk Form”). It considers these activities: the Arts and Crafts movement in England, the Swedish national romantic movement, Deutscher Werkbund in Germany, and Swedish moulders of public opinion and new ideas, like Ellen Key, Carl Larsson and Gregor Paulsson.</p><p>Chapter III is an ideological biography of Gregor Paulsson. The chapter deals with biographical data and ideological development, and the social aesthetical texts which were important in his activity in the National Museum and as director of The Swedish Society of Arts and Crafts. Gregor Paulsson is considered mainly in his role as social aesthetical propagandist and museologist.</p><p>Chapter IV concerns the early history and activities of the Swedish Society of Arts and Crafts seen as an introduction to the Baltic Exhibition 1914, and the subsequent schism which eventually led to its reorganization and a new ideological orientation. Its activities were directed towards increased cooperation between artists and industry, and a special department was established as an employment office for companies and designers under the management of the textile artist Elsa Gullberg. This chapter also includes a brief portrait of key persons in the Society.</p><p>Chapter V is a study in several sections of the articles for everyday use seen in industrial practice, with Gustavsberg’s china factory and Orrefors’ glassworks as two separate historical studies. The 1917 Home Exhibition is surveyed as an example of the educational ambitions in the development of people’s taste. The focus of the chapter, however, is the international industrial art exhibition in Paris 1925, Exposition International des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, and the debate about it in the Swedish and French press.</p><p>Chapter VI consists of a concluding discussion with a final epilogue. It contains suggested questions for future research including relations between design and ethics.</p>

This thesis is structured in six chapters. Chapter I contains an introduction and includes purpose, theory, method, and concepts. The main purpose, as depicted by the title, is to examine the roots of Swedish ideology concerning what today is generally named design, as embodied in the concept of more beautiful or better things for everyday life (in Swedish: ”vackrare vardagsvara”). Chapter II contains a background and includes philosophical ideas and aesthetic movements in Europe which have influenced the Swedish Society of Arts and Crafts (in Swedish ”Svenska Slöjdföreningen”, abbreviated SSF) which was later renamed the Swedish Society of Crafts and Design (in Swedish: ”Föreningen Svensk Form”). It considers these activities: the Arts and Crafts movement in England, the Swedish national romantic movement, Deutscher Werkbund in Germany, and Swedish moulders of public opinion and new ideas, like Ellen Key, Carl Larsson and Gregor Paulsson. Chapter III is an ideological biography of Gregor Paulsson. The chapter deals with biographical data and ideological development, and the social aesthetical texts which were important in his activity in the National Museum and as director of The Swedish Society of Arts and Crafts. Gregor Paulsson is considered mainly in his role as social aesthetical propagandist and museologist. Chapter IV concerns the early history and activities of the Swedish Society of Arts and Crafts seen as an introduction to the Baltic Exhibition 1914, and the subsequent schism which eventually led to its reorganization and a new ideological orientation. Its activities were directed towards increased cooperation between artists and industry, and a special department was established as an employment office for companies and designers under the management of the textile artist Elsa Gullberg. This chapter also includes a brief portrait of key persons in the Society. Chapter V is a study in several sections of the articles for everyday use seen in industrial practice, with Gustavsberg’s china factory and Orrefors’ glassworks as two separate historical studies. The 1917 Home Exhibition is surveyed as an example of the educational ambitions in the development of people’s taste. The focus of the chapter, however, is the international industrial art exhibition in Paris 1925, Exposition International des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, and the debate about it in the Swedish and French press. Chapter VI consists of a concluding discussion with a final epilogue. It contains suggested questions for future research including relations between design and ethics.