Anders Zorn (Mora, 1860 - 1920, Mora)
The Small Brewery, 1890
Etching , 10 x 13.5 cm (3 15/16 x 5 5/16 in.)
General admission for children 17 years and under is always free
This small, rectangular etching in the horizontal position depicts a detailed scene of workers in a small brewery. The workers are women wearing similar white aprons over their pants and shirts. Some wear their hair pulled up, others wear a scarf over their hair. The women on our right side of the narrow room sit at a counter. On the counters are rows of wooden barrels resting on their sides. On the other side of the room, two women sit and one woman stands next to them. The etching is signed and dated on the lower left of the plate.
Short Gallery
Commentary
In 1890, artist Anders Zorn painted and made prints of Swedish breweries, the businesses that made, bottled, and sold beer. The Small Brewery etching is modeled after a larger painted composition in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Storing beer required cool temperatures, so breweries were often located in basements. The Small Brewery shows women workers bottling beer and corking filled bottles, while a male supervisor watches over them. The work was arduous and sometimes hazardous, and Zorn captures the women concentrating on their tasks in diligent detail. Isabella framed The Small Brewery in an ornate frame whose gold embellishment seems worlds away from a brewery floor. But perhaps, much like Zorn did, the two angels in the corners of the frame are watching over the women as they work.