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In Defence of a Good Copy: a Discussion on Craft Making

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In Defence of a Good Copy: a Discussion on Craft Making IN DEFENCE OF A GOOD COPY: A DISCUSSION ON CRAFT MAKING AND AUTHENTICITY Seher UYSAL* Abstract: Between the years 1941 and 1982 two crafts makers and brothers Tor and Åke Carlsson made wooden relief copies of John Bauer paintings. John Bauer was a very well known Swedish painter and illustrator who depicted scenes from folkloric stories. These stories were about dense forests, lakes, trolls, princes and witches. Although Bauer was a prominent figure who was very keen on keeping the copyrights of his work, the wooden copies became a sensation in the rural town Tranås. The Bauer paintings and motifs were popular and very well known in Sweden and Åke and Tor Carlsson were aware they were making wooden replicas of his work but adding their own subtle interpretations. They designed and carved the Bauer works on wood and signed them with their famous inscription: “Fritt efter John Bauer (A free interpretation of John Bauer). The wooden copies were so popular they became collectors’ items and can still be found in auctions today. They were not artworks, yet they exceeded the idea of craft making. “In defence of a good copy” investigates why the Bauer copies were so popular, researching the different aspects of copies and its merits as an art object or as memorabilia. Keywords: Craft, Art, Copy, Replica, Interpretation Received Date: 24.06.2020 Accepted Date: 22.02.2021 Arcticle Types: Research Article *Merdivenköy mah. Uyanış sok. 12/8 Kadıköy Istanbul, [email protected], ORCID ID:0000-0002-1408-8168 :G:=HEN¦GĀO>KLĀM>LĀ 176 ç;ç-12;#0+05#870/#5+<#0##6.'48'ç; - #0 # 114ç,ç0#..ç-d<'4ç0'$ç46#46+ë/#4 ,ç0#.. -d<' Seher UYSAL*UYSA Özet: 1941 ve 1982 yılları arasında iki zanaatkar kardeş Tor ve Åke Carlsson, John Bauer resimlerinin ahşap rölyef kopyalarını yapmaya başladılar. John Bauer İsveç’te oldukça bilinen ve halk hikayelerini resimleyen bir illüstratör ve ressam olarak tanınır. Resimlediği hikayelerin çoğunda karanlık ormanlar, göller, troller, prensler ve cadılar gibi olağan dışı bazı karakterlere yer verilir. Bauer bugün tanınan ve resimlerinin telif haklarını korumak için elinden geldiğince çabalayan bir ressam olarak bilinse de, çalışmalarının ahşap kopyaları Bauer’in doğduğu Jönköping bölgesi sınırları içinde kalan Tranås şehrinde büyük bir olay haline gelir. İnsanlar Bauer resimlerini iyi tanırlar, Åke ve Tor Carlsson da kopya işler ürettiklerinin bilincindedirler ancak yine de işlerine kendi yorumlarını eklemeden duramazlar. Tasarımlarını yapıp oydukları Bauer kopyalarının arkasına meşhur imzalarını şöyle atarlar: “Fritt efter John Bauer (John Bauer’den serbest bir uyarlama).” Ahşap kopyalar öyle popüler olur ki müzayedelerde satılır ve bugün hala pek çok insan bir kopya daha bulabilmenin peşindedir. Sanat objeleri değildirler ancak zanaatkarlık fikrini aşmış, sınırlarını başka bir yere çekmiştirler. “In Defence of a Good Copy (İyi kopyanın savunması)” adlı bu metin Bauer kopyalarının neden bu denli popüler olduğunu, kopya meselesinin farklı açılardan incelenmesini ve bir sanat nesnesi ya da andaç olarak niteliklerini sorgulamayı amaçlamaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Zanaat, Sanat, Kopya, Replika, Yorum Geliş Tarihi: 24.06.2020 Kabul Tarihi: 22.02.2021 Makale Türü: Araştırma Makalesi *Merdivenköy mah. Uyanış sok. 12/8 Kadıköy Istanbul, [email protected], ORCID ID:0000-0002-1408-8168 L:G:MO>M:L:KBF=>K@ĀLĀ 177 1. INTRODUCTION particularly interesting. They knew they were Making is thinking. One of the preconceived making copies, it brought money and supported ideas when it comes to craft making is that their wood workshop financially and the products the maker perfects the skill in time through were high in demand. But to clarify what this repetition. During daily labor, it is often paper is about we should first talk about three maintained that the hand and the head are not things: an old wood sculptors’ workshop in rural connected, the hand works mechanically and Sweden, the artist John Bauer and the freely there is no intellectual effort during this process. interpreted Bauer copies and also their copies, There is practice and there is theory, which are copies of copies. separate, reasoning can only start when labor 2,%#4.5510¥5$+.&*7))'4+ finishes. Richard Sennett, in his well known 6*'911&5%7.26145¥914-5*12 book the Craftsman contradicts this manner of In 2018, the local librarian in Tranås, Magnus thinking and explains how the busy hand in time Grehn brought to my attention a book written with repetition allows the crafts maker to create and published by a modest local historian and the work and think at the same time (Sennett, artist Torbjörn Skobe with the title Inte Bara 2009: 175). However this paper is not merely En Verkstad (Not Just a Workshop). The book about Richard Sennett’s thoughts and comments summarized the history of the small wood on craft making, although it is widely encouraged sculptor’s workshop which was in use in early to and inspired by Sennett’s book, neither is this mid 1900s and which left an indelible mark on paper solely about art or crafts. Its main focus the town’s history (Skobe, 2008:13). What was is about a vague area between the two, when a more compelling was that the workshop still good example of craft making goes beyond the existed intact and untouched, even though no one expectations and passes the threshold between was actively using it anymore. what may be deemed as being art or craft. Or more specifically when it has the potential to PJ Carlsson’s history goes back as far as 1900s. In blur the area between two fields as well as terms 1908 PJ Carlsson opened a specialist carpentry like “authenticity”, “authorship”, “replica” and the workshop which supplied handmade decorations way we use the terminology to discuss artworks, of wood for the furniture factories in Tranås objects and/or disciplines. (Skobe, 2008: 14). After PJ, his sons Åke and Tor took over the family brand and expanded This paper is a discussion about copies, replicas and enriched it with the contribution of other and fakes and stems from my interests as a master crafts people. Interestingly over the years contemporary artist and researcher. However the workshop became a hub for people who are it is not about “appropriation art” or “homage” interested in all kinds of creative production since or “referencing.” Because the craft makers who PJ himself took lessons of decoration and design are mentioned here were not interested in such from Hermann Norrman, a renowned painter terminologies, instead they intuitively made who reached national recognition and lived in objects with the joy of creating things, just for the Tranås. sake of making them and nothing else. At PJ Carlsson’s Bildhuggeri apart form the It is also crucial to point out these craft makers business of woodcarving there were also many who produced the objects were not really artistic debates taking place, often with the concerned about the issue of copyrights. accompaniment of music. The wood sculptors’ This makes their efforts not entirely legal but :G:=HEN¦GĀO>KLĀM>LĀ 178 studio created an intellectual circle for the town Upon reading Torbjörn Skobe’s book Inte Bara en for a long time, it was always at the threshold; Verkstad, l started to research the workshop and somewhere between professional and amateur. interviewed some of the last remaining people The place provided a shelter for creative people, connected to PJ Carlsson’s Bildhuggeri. I collected a space to think, work and discuss, the studio information on some of the many artists who presented another kind of creative space, worked at Bildhuggarverkstad, gathered legends somewhere between arts and crafts, art and labor and hearsay about the place, examined some for artists and enthusiasts. The workshop was of the replicas and decorative objects that were not a place for individualism but rather it had produced at the workshop and more importantly a sense of unity situated in a small town where have explored the place artistically as a site of the opportunities were limited. The people at the local heritage. workshop were not limited solely by one form of After a year of research I compiled my research discipline or task but they were carpenters, artists, material at a website with the project name; artisans, thinkers and musicians. The people Bildhuggarverkstad or A Story In Six Chapters made the place. The space today manifests itself (http-1) which functions both as an archive and as a kind of time capsule, a heritage site where a research based artwork. The main focus of the things have mostly remained as they were before, project was to question the issue of heritage and except for the people who were once present, the space and its maintenance. How do we deal with ‘originals’ as they were often referred to. cultural heritage? Do we need to turn everything After almost forty years since its closure the into a mausoleum? Which issues and topics make workshop is still preserved in its present a site relevant to cultural history? The outcomes condition thanks to the protection of the Tranås of the research were exhibited and installed at municipality together with the wishes of the the workshop following different themes on building’s previous owner Lars Gärskog. The six occasions in 2019. Although the work was workshop with its sepia colors appears almost completed after two years, the questions it raised frozen in time with outdated working tools did not end there. One of the six exhibitions was and the silence that now surround them. It about the Bauer trolls and was titled “Copies also remains surprisingly unknown to the local or Fritt efter John Bauer (A Free interpretation community even though it is quite easy to visit of John Bauer)” (http-2).
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