Gudrun Stig Aagaard (1895–1986) was a Danish

textile artist Textile arts are arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects. Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization. The methods and materials u ...

who specialized in printed fabrics. She opened her own workshop in 1928, pioneering printed textile designs in Denmark. She initially produced classical patterns but later adopted a more abstract approach in her creations for L.F. Foght. For over 50 years, she collaborated with Haandarbejdets Fremme.

Early life and education

Born on 13 January 1895 in the village of Torslunde,

Ishøj Municipality Ishøj Municipality ( Danish: ''Ishøj Kommune'') is a municipality ( Danish: '' kommune'') in Region Hovedstaden on the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers 26 km², with a total population of 21,6 ...

, Gudrun Stig Aagaard was the daughter of the factory manager Einar Nielsen (1855–1908) and Elisabeth Margrethe Thomsen (1857–1960). She was educated as a weaver in the early 1920s at the

Tegne- og Kunstindustriskolen for Kvinder Tegne- og Kunstindustriskolen for Kvinder (literally Draftsmanship and Industrial Design School for Women but sometimes referred to as the Arts and Crafts School for Women) was a private Danish educational establishment in Copenhagen. From 1875, it ...

(Arts and Crafts School for Women) in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

and at the Académie des Beaux arts des Tissus in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, France.

Career

Aagaard first worked in

Anton Rosen Anton Rosen (13 September 1859 – 2 July 1928) was a Danish architect, furniture designer, decorative artist and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In his architecture, he combined a free Historicist style with inspiration ...

's textile workshop. After using the

batik Batik is an Indonesian technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth. This technique originated from the island of Java, Indonesia. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a ''ca ...

technique for a number of years, she sought a simpler approach to printing fabrics. She made a number of study trips to England, France and Germany, where she was introduced to textile printing and dye production at

IG Farben Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG (), commonly known as IG Farben (German for 'IG Dyestuffs'), was a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate (company), conglomerate. Formed in 1925 from a merger of six chemical companies—BASF, ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. In 1928, she opened her own workshop, producing printed, woven and embroidered goods. She became particularly interested in the traditional Danish

calico Calico (; in British usage since 1505) is a heavy plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may also contain unseparated husk parts. The fabric is far coarser than muslin, but less coarse and thick than ...

print technique known as ''kattuntryk''. Inspired by the old presses she had found in museums, she developed patterns on linoleum blocks. Unlike her contemporaries who used time-consuming

screen printing Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mes ...

techniques, in the later 1940s she continued developing calico prints in her workshop, providing the means for her to develop her own expressive patterns. As a result of growing demand in the 1950s, some of her patterns were adapted for screen printing. Aagaard also created patterns for commercial production by the L.F. Foght textile firm. Her most popular patterns based on floral or abstract contoured designs included ''Levende Sten'' (1950), ''Lianer'' (1951) and ''Mohamed'' (1953). Her patterns were carefully produced, combining flowers, leaves, triangles, and zigzagging lines. They exhibit discrete, harmonious shades, frequently inspired by plants. Aagaard's work was exhibited at home and abroad. Items were included in "The Arts of Denmark" exhibition at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

(1960–61) and at the many shows arranged by Haandarbejdets Fremme where she was employed for over 50 years. Gudrun Stig Aagaard died on 19 April 1986 in Copenhagen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aagaard, Gudrun Stig 1895 births 1986 deaths 20th-century Danish women artists 20th-century women textile artists 20th-century textile artists People from Ishøj Municipality Danish textile artists Danish textile designers