Hedvig Erika ("Vicken") von Post Börjeson Totten (March 12, 1886 – June 21, 1950) was a Swedish ceramicist, sculptor, painter, and illustrator.Glenn B. Opitz, ed., ''Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers'', Apollo Book, Poughkeepsie, NY, 1986, p. 944. She studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts with

Gerhard Henning Gerhard Henning (27 May 1880 – 16 September 1967) was a Swedish-Danish sculptor. While working at the Royal Danish Porcelain Factory, he designed a number of delicately decorated figurines. He is however remembered above all for his statues c ...

, known for his pieces produced by the Royal Danish Porcelain Factory. She also studied in Paris. She illustrated the first edition of Laura Fitinghoff's children's book ''The Kids from Frostmofjället'' (1907). She worked for the Rörstrand Porcelain Factory from the summer of 1915 to 1921, where she modelled approximately thirty figurines that were put into production. She married sculptor Börje Börjeson in 1915, and separated from him in 1920. In 1921, she traveled to the United States to participate in a Washington, D.C. exhibition, met and married architect

George Oakley Totten Jr. George Oakley Totten Jr. (December 5, 1866 – February 1, 1939), was one of Washington D.C.’s most prolific and skilled architects in the Gilded Age. His international training and interest in architectural decoration led to a career of continu ...

Post Totten opened and operated an art school in Washington D.C. from 1921 to 1941. She had an acclaimed exhibition at The

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

in 1934. She was a member of the

National Association of Women Artists The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...

. Notable works include "Symbol of Flight" (1927), a bronze sculpture that was presented by the women of Washington, D.C. to

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

; and eleven limestone bas-relief panels depicting the history of transportation (1932) modeled for the façade of the main post office in

Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...

, a building designed by her husband. Several U.S. post offices contain New Deal art by Post Totten. Her

plaster of Paris Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

mural, "Pastoral of Spencer," was installed in the

Spencer, West Virginia Spencer is a city in and the county seat of Roane County, West Virginia, United States. Originally known as "California," Spencer was chartered in 1858, and named after Spencer Roane (1762–1822), a distinguished jurist from Virginia, who served ...

Post Office in 1938. Works by her are in the collections of 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 ...

, the

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the national gallery of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretches far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, the nationalmuseum manag ...

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropoli ...

,Vicken von Post
from Nationalmuseum. and other museums.

References

External links

* Leila Mechlin, "Sculpture in Porcelain," ''The American Magazine of Art'', vol. 12, no. 9 (September 1921), pp. 318–1
The American Magazine of Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Post Totten, Vicken von Swedish women sculptors Swedish illustrators 1886 births 1950 deaths 20th-century sculptors Swedish emigrants to the United States National Association of Women Artists members People from Vetlanda Municipality 20th-century Swedish women 20th-century American women sculptors 20th-century American sculptors