Hertha Hillfon (1921 – 2013) Swedish Ceramicist

Bio from Swedish Wikipedia article translated with Google Translate and edited with Grammarly


Hertha Maria Lillemor Hillfon, born Forsberg 2 June 1921 in Säbrå parish in Ångermanland, she died 25 October 2013 in Hägersten in Stockholm, was a Swedish ceramicist and sculptor.  

Biography  

Hertha Hillfon grew up as the fourth of fourteen children. The family moved several times before settling in Stockholm. 

She was educated at Edvin Ollers art school in 1939, at Edward Berggren’s art school in 1941 and much later at the School of Art in Stockholm 1953–1957 under the headteacher of ceramics Edgar Böckman.  

She undertook study trips to France, Italy and Japan and made her debut in 1958 at the Swedish Handicraft Associations in Stockholm. 

At the age of 87, she had her last show in 2008, at Waldemarsudde. Alongside Anders Bruno Liljefors, Hertha Hillfon was an innovator of ceramic free sculpture in Sweden. Her debut exhibition at Galleri Artek in Stockholm in 1959 was received positively. 

Hertha Hillfon’ s sculpture of Astrid Lindgren
Hertha Hillfon’ s sculpture of Astrid Lindgren

Among other things, Ulf Hård af Segerstad wrote that she “has ingested a new ceramic territory alongside the traditional, a more untried, perhaps a bit uncertain, but certainly exciting, the free, sculptural ceramics”. 

Several exhibitions followed this in and outside Sweden, most recently Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde in 2008. She was awarded the Lunning Prize in 1962. In 1971, she became a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. 

She is represented at, among others, the National Museum, the Modern Museum in Stockholm, the Kyoto Museum, the Nordenfjeld Art Museum in Trondheim, the Graz Museum and the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg.  

In 1993, Hertha Hillfon was named professor. She was married to the architect and designer Gösta Hillfon and had with him two children Curt Hillfon and Maria Hillfon. 

She lived and worked since 1943 in Gösta Hillfon’s family villa at Sexstyversgränd in Mälarhöjden in Stockholm, later extended with, among other things, a studio house designed by Gösta Hillfon.

A Selection of her Works

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

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