Anna Petrus
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a "Blomlåda N:r 1" cast iron flower box, Näfveqvarns bruk, Sweden.
Relief decoration of figures. Length 85 cm, width 29 cm, height 20 cm.
Wear, weather-bitten patina.
Provenance
Acquired by the present owner's grandparents during the second quarter of the 20th century.
Literature
Marie Rehnberg, "Anna Petrus: Skulptör och industrikonstnär", Arena 2009, compare p. 132.
More information
A larger variant of the model was exhibited at the Swedish industrial art exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago in 1927. The decoration appears as early as 1925 as a door transom in the Swedish pavilion at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris, to be reworked after the exhibition into flower boxes in two sizes.
Designer
Anna Petrus was a sculptor, industrial designer, and artist active in the early 20th century. She was born as Anna Petersson, the daughter of a professor of medicine and a countess, and adopted her surname while studying at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. She inherited a modest fortune at the age of 11 when her mother passed away, which allowed her to pursue her education in London and travel to Italy and France.
Anna Petrus's major international breakthrough came with the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris in 1925, where she showcased items in pewter and cast iron, in the Swedish Grace style. Pewter was considered an outdated material at the time, but its popularity grew as designers like Petrus recognised its advantages. In 1924, she began a collaboration with the then newly established Firma Svenskt Tenn. The lion became a recurring motif in Anna Petrus's work, both as sculptures and as stylised decorations.
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