Axel "Döderhultarn" Petersson, formerly Axel Petersson, (12 December 1868 – 15 March 1925) was a Swedish wood carver who was one of the recognized masters of

wood carving Wood carving (or woodcarving) is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculpture, ...

, most famous for Scandinavian flat-plane-style woodcarving.

Early years

Axel Petersson Döderhultarn was born in the parish of Döderhult in

Oskarshamn Municipality Oskarshamn Municipality () is a municipality in Kalmar County in south-eastern Sweden, where the city Oskarshamn is seat. The amalgamations in the present municipality took place in 1967 when three rural municipalities joined the ''City of Oskars ...

. His parents were Eva Lotta Persdotter and Per August Petersson. When he was five years of age, his father died. Members of his family decided the best thing for him to do as a young adult was to emigrate to the United States. Petersson did not emigrate to America, as his family had planned, and after a brief time away he moved back to help his widowed mother in

Oskarshamn Oskarshamn is a coastal city and the seat of Oskarshamn Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 17,258 inhabitants in 2010. History Etymology Döderhultsvik was the original name before a town charter was granted in 1856. The name was then chan ...

. In his youth, his primary interest was in

whittling Whittling may refer either to the art of carving shapes out of raw wood using a knife or a time-occupying process of repeatedly shaving slivers from a piece of wood. It is used by many as a pastime, or as a way to make artistic creations. Backgr ...

, and

carving Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and y ...

small figures. He worked on figure carving and sold figurines in the local market in Oskarshamn. Most of the figures he sold were refined traditional wood carvings. Sometime around 1900 he began to carve in a

minimalist In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

style. These are the carved figures he is most famous for. Many of these carvings sold in the local market for $1.00 – $2.00

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

. Adjusted for inflation, $1.50 in 1900 would be equivalent to $33.23 in 2005.

Recognition

In 1909, Petersson was invited to participate in an

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. The public response to his work was overwhelming. Georg Nordensvan wrote in the newspaper ''

Dagens Nyheter (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major nationa ...

'' on 20 January 1909, "Axel Petersson's old men are irresistibly amusing. They depict such primitive art as one could wish for, made out of a couple of simple contours using only a couple of strokes, but, from an artist with sure eye and nimble hands. It is a new conception with a personal touch...small masterpieces of complete nonconformative art." After his success with the Stockholm exhibition, some of the museums in Sweden began purchasing his work. He had many requests to exhibit his work throughout Europe and the United States. In 1911 fifty-seven of his figures were on display in Oskarshamn, and the groundwork was laid for a

Döderhultarn Museum The Döderhultarn Museum () is a museum in Oskarshamn, Sweden that exhibits the carved works of Axel Petersson Döderhultarn. General information Axel Petersson "Döderhultarn" (1868–1925) was a Swedish woodcarver. In the Döderhultarn Museum t ...

. His work was also featured in exhibitions in Copenhagen, Brighton, Rome and Turin during 1911. The next year some of his work was shipped to the United States and the Swedish Consulate sent it on tour in several major cities: New York City (1913) and San Francisco and Chicago (1915).

Legacy

Döderhultarn became known as one of Sweden's great artists. His work, as well as photos of his work, were circulated worldwide and he served as an inspiration to other woodcarvers, including

Carl Johan Trygg Carl Johan Trygg (1887–1954), formally ''Carl Johan Thrygg'', also knowns as C. J. Trygg, also kwas a woodcarver and one of the recognized masters of twentieth century woodcarving, most famous for Scandinavian flat-plane style of woodcarving. B ...

(1887–1954) and H. S. "Andy" Anderson (1892–1960). His popularity was so great that ''Döderhultarn figure'' became the generic term for any small figure in the minimalist style.

Notes

# Axel "Döderhultarn" Petersson was born Axel Petersson. After his success and many tour requests he was hailed as "the man from Döderhult (Döderhultarn)" Petersson became known by the

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

Döderhultarn. # Page 26,

References

Other sources

* * Refsal, Harley (2015) ''Carving Flat-Plane Style Caricatures'' (Fox Chapel Publishing) * Refsal, Harley (2015) ''Scandinavian Figure Carving'' (Fox Chapel Publishing) * Refsal, Harley (2004) ''Art & Technique of Scandinavian-Style Woodcarving'' (Fox Chapel Publishing)

External links

Döderhultarn homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doderhultarn, Axel Petersson 1868 births 1925 deaths People from Oskarshamn Municipality Swedish woodcarvers