Swedish Art Historiography

Constant change and expansion have been the hallmarks of Swedish art history as an academic discipline since the first university chairs were established a hundred years ago. It has crossfertilized with related disciplines and benefited from the parallel emergence of art museums and other institutions in Sweden. Swedish art history should thus be seen as the result of people and institutions tapping into one another’s activities, united by their dedication to art and visual culture as an object of study and experience.In this edited volume – the first Swedish survey for an international readership – the authors dwell on their own understanding of the early formation of the discipline and examine its current identity and potential progress. The contributors elaborate on art history research and teaching at Swedish universities, but also at related institutions such as the Swedish Institute in Rome, Nationalmuseum, and Skissernas Museum – Museum of Artistic Process and Public Art in Lund.The book’s authors come from a variety of research fields, institutions, and generations and provide a multifaceted picture of the past and the future of Swedish art history.

Britt-Inger Johansson is professor of art history at Uppsala University. Throughout her career, she has organized conferences and participated in Swedish historiographic projects in art history and architectural history. Ludwig Qvarnström is a senior lecturer in art history and visual studies at Lund University. He has published on Swedish public art and the impact of anti-Semitism on Swedish cultural life from a historiographical perspective.