The Museum of Sketches of Public Art (Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

 Skissernas museum - Arkiv för dekorativ konst, also known in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 as the Archive of Decorative Art) is an art museum at Lund University

Lund University

Lund University , located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden, is one of northern Europe's most prestigious universities and one of Scandinavia's largest institutions for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities...

 in Sweden, dedicated to the collection and display of cartoons and sketches for contemporary monumental and public art, such as fresco

Fresco

Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...

s, sculpture

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

 and relief

Relief

Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...

s. The museum contains about 25,000 items, including sketches and contest entries by leading 20th century Swedish artists such as Isaac Grünewald

Isaac Grünewald

Isaac Grünewald was a Swedish-Jewish expressionist painter born in Stockholm. He was the leading and central name in the first generation of Swedish modernists from 1910 up until his death in 1946, in other words during almost his entire career spanning four decades...

, other Nordic artists and foreign artists such as Henry Moore

Henry Moore

Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....

, Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera

Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a prominent Mexican painter born in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, an active communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo . His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in...

 and Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...

.

The museum was founded in 1934 by Ragnar Josephson

Ragnar Josephson

Ragnar Josephson was a Swedish art historian and writer.Josephson was professor of art history at Lund University 1929-1957 and founder of the Archive for Decorative Art there...

 (1891–1966), professor of the History and Theory of Art at Lund University. Josephson, who wanted to collect material illuminating the creative process of the artist, wrote a book on the topic, Konstverkets födelse ("The Birth of the Work of Art", 1940), as well as many shorter studies. The collection opened to the public in 1941 in a building close to the Lund University Library.

The original building was an old gymnastic hall; the architect Hans Westman

Hans Westman

Hans Gustaf Westman was a Swedish architect mainly active in Scania, Sweden's most Southern province. He performed approximately 120 works in the city of Lund inspired by works of Le Corbusier....

 added a new section, and another addition, designed by Johan Celsing, was completed in 2005. The museum reopened in March 2005 after having been closed for construction work since 2001.

External links

• Museum of Sketches - in Swedish