Den egoistiska modern (The Selfish Mother)

With her back to the viewer a young woman brushes her hair in front of the mirror on her traditional dressing table. Her underwear lies strewn across the floor as she’s wearing nothing but a pink silk negligee. An open door allows the viewer a glimpse into the adjoining room where a naked infant is sprawled on the bare floor. The puzzling scene is made even more menacing as we detect a large brown bear above the infant. With one of its powerful paws extended and drool coming out of its grinning mouth we can only conclude that an attack is imminent and that the child is in danger. Seemingly unconcerned, or oblivious to the danger in the next room, the woman, however, focuses on her own wellbeing and looses herself in the ritual of tending to her looks.

The surreal domestic scene illustrates the conundrum that Gittan Jönsson shared with millions of other women in the 1970s: adhering to the traditional role of a mother constrained by family values, society’s expectations and general inequality or carving out a path for herself as an independent individual in control of her own destiny? The composition cleverly addresses this dilemma through an unsettling and powerful metaphor: She must choose - save the child or save herself.

Den egoistiska modern / The Selfish Mother was executed around the same time as her remarkable Självporträtt / Self-portrait (1977, oil on canvas, 150 x 125 cm, Firestorm Foundation) which set an auction record for the artist when selling for SEK 1 300 000 at Uppsala auktionskammare, Stockholm, 12 May 2023. Den egoistiska modern / The Selfish Mother and Självporträtt / Self-portrait have in a common that they both depict the artist’s domestic setting, i.e. a typical female context as opposed to the workplace related studio interiors of typically male self-portraits. They both also deal with the dilemma of having to make choices. In Självporträtt / Self-portrait the artist’s pose, on the threshold of different rooms surrounded by open doors, has often been read as a metaphor illustrating the different paths in life available to the artist at the time. Uncertainty about the future is a constant companion highlighting the artist’s sense of unease. A variety of options appears to be within reach, but how to choose? Following society’s expectations or one’s own heart? Like standing at the crossroads choosing between the life of a loving, caring and doting mother or opting for the path that leads to professional success and personal fulfilment. The entire situation becomes an overwhelming experience that can best be adressed through the medium of painting.

Den egoistiska modern / The Selfish Mother and Självporträtt / Self-portrait were both included in Jönsson’s debut solo exhibition at Galleri Händer in 1978. Katarina Wadstein MacLeod (professor of history of art at the Department of Culture and Aesthetics at Stockholm University) has written the following (in Bakom gardinerna. Hemmet i svensk konst under nittonhundratalet, 2018) about Självporträtt / Self-portrait:

When the artist portrays herself, she does so as in a home, rather than a studio - regardless of whether the home was her studio. In the painting, it is possible to discern the interests of the portrayed artist, as well as life in the home as a feminist issue and, not least, the home as a motif in a centuries-long art historical tradition. Shortly after her studies at Konstfack’s advertising programme, Jönnson became involved in the women’s movement, where her own home environment, or rather the personal life that takes place there, was a central theme.

Jönsson thusturns her own domestic, personal and private sphere into a public stage from which she addresses universal issues related to the injustices and inequalities that exist between the sexes, not least in the art world. Jönsson challenged the traditional Swedish art scene of the 1960s and 1970s. Politically and socially motivated she rejected ‘bourgeois art’ and tried to find her own way in life, whilst balancing political awareness/activism on one hand, and family life on the other. In the mid 1970s her political involvement gradually shifted focus to the women’s movement. As Jönsson remembered it (interview in Sydsvenska Dagbladet, 24 November 2019): ‘I belonged to the second wave women’s movement, after the first to fight for the right to vote. We were part of a huge wave that swept through the 1970s in the United States and Europe. We needed a new concept of culture. Women’s experiences had not come to light, we were made invisible.’

Signed and dated ‘Gittan Jönsson -78’.

Provenance

Galleri Händer, Stockholm.

Private collection (acquired from the above in 1978).

Uppsala Auktionskammare, Sweden, Important Sale - Swedish Art, 14 November 2024, lot 954.

Firestorm Foundation (acquired from the above).

Exhibitions

Galleri Händer, Stockholm, 1978.

Galleri Händer, Malmö, Sweden, 1978.

Travelling exhibition organized by ’Nämnden för utställningar av nutida svensk konst i utlandets regi’ (NUNSKU), Federal Republic of Germany; France; Belgium and Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 5 x 1000 Ans / 5 x 1000 Jahre: Lena Cronqvist, Lenke Rothman, Channa Bankier, Margareta Renberg, Gittan Jönsson, 1978 – 1980.

Literature

Ingela Lind & Gösta Svensson, 5 x 1000 Ans / 5 x 1000 Jahre, exhibition catalogue, travelling exhibition organized by ’Nämnden för utställningar av nutida svensk konst i utlandets regi’ (NUNSKU), Federal Republic of Germany; France; Belgium and Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 1978, illustrated, p. 9 (under the titles La mère egoist / Die selbst süchtige Mutter).

Bengt Olvång, Våga se! Svensk konst 1945 - 1980, 1983, illustrated.

Copyright Firestorm Foundation