Scarf collection and small scale handmade production for The National Gallery of Denmark, connected to the exhibition called Flowers and world views 2013.

• Commission

ABOUT

Limited edition of the Emdal triangle scarf, commissioned by The National gallery of Denmark, for a historic exhibition FLOWERS AND WORLD VIEWS

The core of this exhibition was The Gottorfer Codex, a four volume flower painting-work commissioned by Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp between 1649 and 1659 to depict the wide assortment of plants that grew in the ducal gardens at Gottorf Castle in the duchy of Schleswig.

The work's 365 illustrated pages depict 1180 plants painted in gouache on veal parchment by the artist Hans Simon Holtzbecker from Hamburg.

The show related the story of how 17th and 18th century artists portrayed flowers. Flower painting has always been an art form in a state of constant change because the artists’ renditions of flowers and plants are contingent on history and on how the artists view the world.

The exhibition delved down into a period where mankind was poised between two views of the world – a symbolic and a rather more scientific approach – and shed light on how this clash is evident in the art of flower painting.

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With great honor and awe, I was commissioned to study the original floral artworks by Hans Simon Holtzbecker from the museum archives and from this experience I created new fabrics & scarves for the museum, made with my own hands.

Photos by The National Gallery of Denmark.

© Image rights: National Gallery of Denmark (SMK) & Signe Emdal