The Small Brewery
artist
Anders Zorn
(Mora, 1860 - 1920, Mora)
Date1890
Place MadeSweden, Europe
MediumEtching on laid paper
Dimensions9.8 x 13.3 cm (3 7/8 x 5 1/4 in.)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession number4.1.o.142
eMuseum ID729387
Original Number4.1.o.32
EmbARK ObjectID14076
TMS Source ID2904
Last Updated10/3/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryIn 1890, artist Anders Zorn painted and made prints of Swedish breweries, the businesses that made, bottled, and sold beer. The Small Brewery etching is modeled after a larger painted composition in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.
Storing beer required cool temperatures, so breweries were often located in basements. The Small Brewery shows women workers bottling beer and corking filled bottles, while a male supervisor watches over them. The work was arduous and sometimes hazardous, and Zorn captures the women concentrating on their tasks in diligent detail.
Isabella framed The Small Brewery in an ornate frame whose gold embellishment seems worlds away from a brewery floor. But perhaps, much like Zorn did, the two angels in the corners of the frame are watching over the women as they work.
Storing beer required cool temperatures, so breweries were often located in basements. The Small Brewery shows women workers bottling beer and corking filled bottles, while a male supervisor watches over them. The work was arduous and sometimes hazardous, and Zorn captures the women concentrating on their tasks in diligent detail.
Isabella framed The Small Brewery in an ornate frame whose gold embellishment seems worlds away from a brewery floor. But perhaps, much like Zorn did, the two angels in the corners of the frame are watching over the women as they work.
BibliographyNotesGilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 132 (as "The Little Brewery").
Michelle Facos. Swedish Impressionism’s Boston Champion: Anders Zorn and Isabella Stewart Gardner. Exploring Treasures in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum VI. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1993), pp. 16-17.
Sven Lidbeck, Anders Zorn Etchings: Catalogue Raisonné (Helsinki, 2007), p. 68, ZG41.
Oliver Tostmann et al. Anders Zorn: A European Artist Seduces America. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2013), pp. 106-108, fig. 63.
Elizabeth Reluga, "The Breweries of Anders Zorn," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 5 October 2021, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/breweries-anders-zorn
Michelle Facos. Swedish Impressionism’s Boston Champion: Anders Zorn and Isabella Stewart Gardner. Exploring Treasures in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum VI. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1993), pp. 16-17.
Sven Lidbeck, Anders Zorn Etchings: Catalogue Raisonné (Helsinki, 2007), p. 68, ZG41.
Oliver Tostmann et al. Anders Zorn: A European Artist Seduces America. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2013), pp. 106-108, fig. 63.
Elizabeth Reluga, "The Breweries of Anders Zorn," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 5 October 2021, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/breweries-anders-zorn
MarksNotesSigned and dated in plate (lower left): 18Zorn90
Signed in graphite (lower right corner): Zorn
Numbered in ink on label affixed to frame (verso): 10495 / 4839
Signed in graphite (lower right corner): Zorn
Numbered in ink on label affixed to frame (verso): 10495 / 4839
ProvenanceNotesEntered Isabella Stewart Gardner's collection at an unknown date.
