What is Swedish allmoge? Folk art, furniture and craft

Allmoge is the old Swedish word for the peasant population, and allmoge culture means the objects, furniture and textiles made and used in the countryside before industrialisation, mainly in the 18th and 19th centuries. Typical are painted furniture, kurbits paintings, woven textiles such as rya and rölakan, and objects such as the Dala horse and the Mora clock.

Facts

The rural community's own objects

In the 18th and 19th centuries most Swedes lived in the countryside, and much of what was needed was made at home or by local craftsmen. Furniture, tools, clothes and textiles were made to last and to show the farm's standing. The forms often came from the styles of towns and manor houses, but they were interpreted freely and at their own pace.

That is why a rural chair from 1820 can have features of both Rococo and Gustavian. Styles reached the countryside later and were mixed with local traditions, so that each province and sometimes each parish acquired its own character. Read more under allmoge and the allmoge period.

Painted furniture and kurbits

Pine and spruce were common woods, and furniture was painted to protect the wood and to look more expensive. Chests, cupboards, beds and clock cases were decorated with flowers, tendrils and graining that imitated finer woods. In Hälsingland whole rooms on the farms were painted, and seven Hälsingland farmhouses became World Heritage in 2012.

In Dalarna kurbits painting developed, with large, fanciful flowers and biblical scenes in which the figures wear the local costume. The name kurbits refers to the plant that, according to the Bible, grew up and gave the prophet Jonah shade. Walls could also be decoratively painted, as the decorated walls show.

The Dala horse and the Mora clock

The Dala horse began as a toy carved in wood in the area around Mora. In the 20th century it came to be painted red with kurbits scrolls and became a symbol of Sweden, and the workshops in Nusnäs still make it by hand.

The Mora clock, a longcase clock with a tall case that often swells towards the middle, was made by farmers in the Mora area from the late 18th century. The movements were made by different families in the villages and the cases often by other craftsmen, so the clock was the product of a whole network of cottage industry.

The textiles

Textiles were the wealth of the farmhouse. The rya, a thick, knotted rug with a long pile, was used for a long time as a cover in beds and boats before it became a wall decoration. Rölakan is a flat, reversible tapestry technique with geometric patterns, common in Skåne, and painted wall hangings with biblical scenes were put up for festivals.

Jewellery and small objects also belonged to allmoge culture, such as the hair jewellery from Våmhus in Dalarna, where women braided human hair into chains and sold them far afield. See more objects in the categories textiles and furniture.

From allmoge to handicraft

When industry took over in the 19th century, the objects began to disappear. Artur Hazelius founded what became the Nordic Museum in 1873 and the open-air museum Skansen in 1891 to preserve allmoge culture, and Lilli Zickerman took the initiative for Svensk Hemslöjd in 1899, which wanted to keep the crafts alive. Read about the building the Nordic Museum.

Artists and designers around 1900 were strongly inspired by allmoge, such as Carl and Karin Larsson at Sundborn, and the ideas lived on in Scandinavian design. Read more in the guides to National Romanticism and Arts and Crafts.

How to recognise it

Exercise

What does the word kurbits refer to?