Hemmavid i tid och rum

Musealisering av två konstnärshem

Abstract

In this article the process of turning two Swedish artists' houses into museums is discussed. Anders Zorn (1860-1920) and Bror Hjorth (1894-1968) stipulated their respective houses to function as museums after their death. Zorngården in Mora (Dalecarlia) opened in 1942 and Bror Hjorths Hus in Uppsala in 1977. Zorn and Hjorth were influenced by the domestic ideals of their time and were very different from each other. While Zorngården is a huge house lavishly decorated, Bror Hjorths Hus resembles a small-sized farm-house from Uppland with little relatively decoration. When visiting the houses today, one can see the result of different domestic ideals and styles of interior decoration, but also of different ideals of masculinity. Zorn is described as a successful, wealthy and masculine man, while Hjorth seems to have been reserved, modest and not particularly wealthy. But not only gender is a part of the process of "making museums", social background is also a part of telling the stories of Zorn, Hjorth and their wives. Emma Zorn was a woman with plenty of capital, both financial and cultural and she assumes a strong position in the success story of Anders Zorn. She was also one of the vital forces in the "museum making" of her husband's life and work. Bror Hjorth's wives do not command the same sort of status as Mrs Zorn when the story of Bror Hjorth is told. Bror and his first wife, Tove Friis, divorced in 1952 and Tove took up her own career as an artist. His second wife, Margareta Adde, was his young model and she and Ole Hjorth (Bror's and Tove's son) were active in the creation of Bror Hjorths Hus as the museum celebrating the work of the artist.