The Rackstad Colony emerges

Oppstuhage - exterior
© Rackstadmuseet

Oppstuhage - the studio
© Rackstadmuseet

Oppstuhage was the embryo of what eventually became the Rackstad Colony. Maja and Gustaf Fjæstad, Björn Ahlgrensson and Fritz Lindström – the founders of the artists’ collective – all lived in the house at one time or another. Painter Ture Ander eventually joined them, along with ceramic designers Hilma Persson-Hjelm and Riborg Böving. The artists came from a variety of backgrounds. While attending the Artists’ Association School, Maja Hallén got to know Eriksson, who was an instructor and a member of the board. She met her future husband Gustaf Fjæstad at the 1897 Stockholm Exhibition of Art and Industry.

Both Ahlgrensson, the son of a decorative painter, and Lindström were from Stockholm. Ahlgrensson and Lindström started off in the same profession. Ahlgrensson spent his first 14 years in Paris before coming to Sweden. He became acquainted with Lindström at the Artists’ Association School, where they counted Hallén among their circle of friends. Lindström hadn’t turned 15 yet when he began apprenticing at the studio of decorative painter Carl Ludwig Grabow in 1989.
Ahlgrensson, who also worked at the studio for a while, married Lindström’s sister Elsa. The couple moved to Perserud on Lake Racken, where they were able to live inexpensively and Ahlgrensson could have his pick of landscape motifs to suit the spirit of the times. The Fjæstads subsequently built a home at Kampudden, also on the lake, and Lindström moved into the nearby Gammelhaget house.

The Rackstad Colony was by no means limited to painters and sculptors – the area also boasted of a vibrant craftsmanship tradition, including blacksmiths, joiners and potters. The weaving school that Anna and Amelie Fjæstad, Gustaf’s sisters, ran well into the 1930s promoted the textile crafts. Contacts with the artists, along with Eriksson’s active assistance, landed lucrative Stockholm contracts for the local artisans – furniture and tapestries for the Thielska Gallery on Djurgården Island, the Law Court and City Hall.

:: Oppstuhage
:: How it all began
:: The Rackstad Colony emerges
:: Members of the Rackstad Colony
:: How to get to Rackstadmuseet