Bente Sætrang Book

Image: In memory of Brahim Bouarram, Killed by Le Pen Supporters in 1 May 1995 (detail), 1996, Bente Saetrang. photo: © Bente Saetrang.

A new book - Bente Sætrang – Textile art from Norway - presents the Norwegian artist Bente Sætrang (b. 1946) and her forty years of commitment to the medium of textile. Sætrang is known for her intensive investigation of trompe l’oeil drapery, bold textile printing, monumental abstract color studies, and charcoal drawings. She was Norway’s first professor of textile art, and her political engagement and unique knowledge of colour and textile qualities permeate her work. Through essays, poems, interviews, montages, and rich imagery, this monograph sheds light on the different phases of Sætrang’s artistic practice and provides a thorough overview of her artistic work. With contributions by Gunvor Nervold Antonsen, Vigdis Hjorth, Jessica Hemmings, Ingrid Lønningdal, Tommy Olsson, María Inés Rodríguez, and Bente Sætrang.

Image: Island View, 2012, Bente Saetrang. Photo: © Bente Saetrang. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020

The perhaps most apparent and clearest manifestations of how she works are her collages. Yet she is also known for her depictions of draperies in acrylic paint, car spray, sandpaper and pencil on untreated canvas. Her works are frequently characterised by an abstract, geometrical and emblematic idiom. This applies in particular to her textile prints with indigosol – a chemical dye developed in the 1920s – on damask or cotton. The result of this time-consuming artistic process, in which layer after layer must be painstakingly applied, is a distinctive depth and clarity of colour. In addition to her textile works predicated on precise planning, Sætrang creates drawings in charcoal and pastel on paper, in which intuitive ideas, experiments and memories of her travels are captured.

Image: Breaking Black, 2012, Bente Saetrang. Photo: © Bente Saetrang

Well illustrated, the book conveys a comprehensive picture of the Norwegian textile artist’s diverse approach by means of mostly large-format reproductions as well as numerous photographic insights into her studio. Essays by various authors illuminate Bente Sætrang’s oeuvre from different perspectives and locate her multi-faceted work in a biographical, art historical and socio-political context.