Stockholm.- The Moderna Museet Stockholm presents a major retrospective of works by Siri Derkert from May 28 until September 4th 2011. Siri Derkert’s early cubist paintings are attributable to international modernism, while her later work for the Östermalmstorg underground station (1965) in Stockholm marked a radical change in the notion of public art. For the first time since 1960, Moderna Museet is featuring Siri Derkert’s unique and multifaceted oeuvre in a major retrospective exhibition jointly rganized with the National Library of Sweden. Works from her youth, cubist paintings, fashion drawings from the 1910s, profoundly psychological portraits of children and adults, drawings and later experiments with materials such as concrete, iron strips and clay are all presented in a comprehensive show that also highlights the life of Siri Derkert. Her works for public spaces often deal with the peace movement and feminism, issues that are as relevant today as they were for her generation. In connection with this exhibition and a current research project at the National Library of Sweden, a series of seminars will be held on Siri Derkert and Carlo Derkert.
Siri was born in Stockholm in 1888 to merchant Carl Edward Johansson Derkert, one of seven children. She was educated at Althin art school in Stockholm from 1904 and the Royal Academy of Art 1911-1913 . Thereafter, she studied art in Paris at the Académie Colarossi and Académie de la Grande Chaumiere with Ninnan Santesson and Lisa Bergstrand until the First World War broke out in Autumn 1914. During and after the war she frequently stayed in Italy, where her first child, Carlo was born. Siri also visited the female citizen school run by the Fogelstad group and her 1943 stay at Fogelstad inspired her art and she painted a number of portraits of women who were active in Fogelstad, including Honorine Hermelin and Ada Nilsson. Siri had three children: son, Carlo (1915-1994) with the Finnish artist Valle Rosenberg (1891-1919) and daughters Life (1917-1938) and Sarah (born 1920) with the subscriber and bokillustratören Bertil Lybeck (1887-1945).
Siri is known as an artist with a highly personal and expressionistic style. In early works, especially from her time in Paris, impressionist influences both from Cubism and Fauvism can clearly be seen. She also produced figurative paintings in gray tones, usually pastel, interiors and childrens portraits. Siri was the first woman to have a solo exhibition at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm (in 1960). Also in 1960, she was awarded the Guggenheim Prize for the painting Bird in the state. Siri’s works are in the collections of the National Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Sketches and the Gothenburg Museum of Art. She has also had her work featured on Swedish Post Office stamps.
Moderna Museet has one of the world’s finest collections of 20th and 21st century art. The photography collection contains works produced since 1840. Moderna Museet is commissioned to collect, preserve, exhibit and organise learning activities relating to all forms of 20th and 21st century art. Moderna Museet in Stockholm originally opened on 9 May, 1958, in what used to be a drill hall on Skeppsholmen. The Spanish architect Rafael Moneo designed the new building for Moderna Museet, after winning an international competition for the assignment. The new building was inaugurated, according to plan, in connection with Stockholm Cultural Capital in 1998. The event took place on 12 February, 1998. Moderna Museet Malmö opened on 26 December, 2009. The museum’s aims are to promote artistic and cultural regeneration, promote knowledge in art history and understanding and interest in contemporary art, preserve, catalogue and research the Moderna Museet collection and procure new works to enhance it, make the collection accessible to the public, organise exhibitions and learning activities, and operate lending and deposition activities, research other government-owned or government-funded art collections and promote international contacts by organising exhibitions of Swedish contemporary art abroad, and be responsible for Swedish participation in international art biennials. Visit the museum’s website at … http://www.modernamuseet.se
