Magic Moon

Synnøve Anker Aurdal was a pioneer in modernistic textile art in Norway. She preferred a reductive, geometric style and experimented with new materials. Aurdal gradually liberated herself from traditional Norwegian textile art, for example by using industrial pigments to dye her yarn at a time when plant-dyed yarn was the ideal.

The scene in Magic Moon is depicted non-figuratively. Two large, bright, round shapes rest on a dark background. One of the shapes is placed against the upper edge of the tapestry and is considerably larger than the lower shape, which is formed as a lying oval. Vertically, near the middle of both spheres, lies a darker grey area. The colours in Aurdal’s work are almost uniform shades of black, white, grey and silver, with elements of green and gold. In the silver-coloured areas, she has used a type of metal string that shows her inclusion of mundane materials, an element that was untypical in traditional tapestries.

The title provides a clear description of the scene, which was inspired by Harry Martinson’s “Lunar Poem”: “Through trembling night-time clouds, a path is carved from the white doubloon of the moon. The glitter of night throws it down to crawl in the lake. The sparkle allures and everything becomes a dream world. Ships glide into the silver, amazed.”