This article was written by Viola Robertson and published in Sydsvenska Dagbladet Snällposten. Translated by Fern Scott, 2024.
The first time Wiwen Nilsson exhibited a large collection of silver was at the important exhibition in Gothenburg in 1923. “There I was scolded. Silver was not supposed to be straight like mine, people did not think it was finished. People were used to silver being shiny and bulgy, and having the decorations almost covering the form. But then, curiously, NK in Stockholm bought everything I brought to the exhibition.”
“Why did I break with tradition? It was a reaction. I do not know, it came from within, it became a necessity. It all started when I was 15 years old. On my way to school, Katedralskolan in Lund, I would walk down a long street and a narrow smaller street. I saw everything three-dimensionally, I saw space. I perceived the space as a problem, a problem that I wanted to solve. Everything that man had made I thought was wrong, I wanted to change everything. That was the beginning. Since then I have been looking for the right proportions. The parts and the relationship between the parts must not fail”.
Sleepwalking in boy’s knee trousers
"I finished school. My father was a silversmith and he asked me if I wanted to come work with him in his workshop. Shortly before the First World War, I went to Germany to learn the craft. At that time, I was just a schoolboy wearing boy's knee trousers. But it was the most interesting period. Expressionism was in full swing. Nobody was concerned with aesthetics or rules. There was only one question that was asked: is it right? Sleepwalking, just sleepwalking, trying to move forward".
When war broke out, Wiwen Nilsson had to return home. But in 1924 he travelled again, this time to Paris. "After Germany, Paris was a great disappointment. Everything was so superficial, the art had the smell of boudoir to it, it was so accommodating. Thousands of artists went there. Talented artists were ruined. After only a few weeks they changed and became some kind of impressionists.
Medieval Philosophy
"I wanted to leave immediately, but GAN persuaded me to stay. In the museums I studied primitive art, archaic art and above all medieval art. I also sat in the libraries and read everything I could find about medieval silver and medieval philosophy. I was looking for something that I thought had been lost. There are three figures that I put above all others: Christ Pantocrator, Meister Eckhart and Dostoevsky. Music has also interested me. A single note, any note, means nothing. When does a note become important? Well, together with other notes. Music is the relationship between the notes.”
The dimension of time
"The same applies to forms. We spontaneously perceive two dimensions. The horizontal and the vertical are easy to see, these are right in front of our eyes. The third dimension is more complicated, it is something we add and requires some experience. The fourth dimension for me is time, which I see as the relationship between the other three dimensions. I have been thinking about this for 60 years and it does not seem odd to me anymore. To find the balance, the dynamism, that is what is important, do not say harmony, but balance, it is more related to dynamism. The static does not exist, it is a fiction".
"Take my reliefs. They are made up of combined geometric figures. It is very sensitive, a millimetre here, or a millimetre there and everything will be wrong".
"What is right, what is balance, one must search for it. The fewer shapes one works with, the harder it is to find balance. Two shapes are hard, one shape is harder. This relief has only one shape, a quadrant. Nothing must be changed. The slightest shift and everything becomes meaningless. It is large in format, but it cannot be reduced in size, nor can it be enlarged without destroying the balance. Here I have some jewellery inspired by my reliefs. Not only have I reduced them, but I have also had to change the shapes. The right proportions were different in the smaller formats".
"I have made objects for many churches, I am told 260 of them. The cross is not just a Christian symbol. It is something more, the perfect dynamic shape, a horizontal meets a vertical and cuts it. It creates tension, I want to bring this dynamism into the church".
Breakthrough in 1930
"I had my breakthrough at the Stockholm Exhibition in 1930. Everything was sold. I had to call Lund three times to ask them to send me more objects. I also showed jewellery there. At that time there were 700 shops in Sweden that sold gold, pressed and mangled into jewellery of the sloppiest kind. I did not want that. Before that I had made jewellery with precious stones. In 1930, I showed rock crystals in beautiful settings. It was a hit. The reason was really an economic one. I could not afford to work with precious stones. Crystals were usually small and poor stones. But I wanted the big stones, the very clear ones.”
Perfection is the limit
"All of my silver is worked by hand. This vessel-shaped bowl is not soldered, it is hammered, and the silver plate is the same thickness throughout. That is perfection, that is the limit one cannot exceed. I used to have 28 men working for me, and they were the most skilled men in the world. They were able to achieve the almost impossible. It is very difficult to hammer a flat surface into a bowl or a plate. One single blow too many and the whole surface becomes curved. One can never make it flat again, any attempt to retouch it will only make the damage worse. There is nothing to do but melt it down again.”
"I know that these pieces are objects for museums. The craft is disappearing, there is no place for it anymore. The necessary conditions for such objects do not exist anymore, there are no prerequisites at all. The few people who will appreciate these in the future will have to go to museums. I am one of the last to make them, and I am almost 75 years old.”
