Studio: international art (82.1921)

STUDIO-TALK

DOORWAY IN STOCKHOLM LAW
COURTS, WITH GRANITE SCULPTURE
AND FIGURE OF JUSTICE IN BEATEN
COPPER BY GUSTAF SANDBERG

thing else to push decorative sculpture for-
ward during this period is the vigorous
architectonic activity which has been dis-
played in the larger Swedish towns,
particularly Stockholm and Gothenburg.
Sweden's architects are just now her
leading artistic talents, brimful of fresh
suggestions and ideas, and at the same time
thoroughly imbued with the study of earlier
domestic traditions in the art of building.
From the eclectic use of historical styles
and picturesque delight in gaudy show and
outward ornament, they have turned to a
marked architectonic simplicity, a salient
feature of which is the importance attached

to the right treatment of the material. The
rich abundance in Sweden of beautiful
stone, such as granite, schists, limestone,
and marble, and the excellence of the brick
and tile works in the south, have furnished
these artists with materials to suit every
shade of taste. A facade dressed with
granite or built of dark-toned hand-made
bricks scarcely needs any other ornament
than the fashioning of a centre part, the
porch or a window. It is here that architec-
tonic sculpture comes in as the most
suitable form of ornamentation. There are
few modern houses in Stockholm of any
importance that cannot boast of sculptured