ANNA-LISA THOMSON. “Shellfish”, a vase, Upsala-Ekeby, 1944-49.

Glazed earthenware. Unclear model number. Height 26 cm.

Background: Anna-Lisa Thomson (1905-52) was no more than 46 years old, but left a decisive mark in the history of Swedish art ceramics. She started, right after her education at the Technical School (now Konstfack), at S:t Erik's clay ware factory in Uppsala, where she mostly made household goods and trinkets. However, soon after moving to Upsala-Ekeby in 1935, she was commissioned with Sven Erik Skawonius to raise the level of the factory's work, with a view to the World Exhibitions in Paris in 1937, and New York in 1939. It succeeded beyond expectation and she is now becoming an increasingly independent and expressive ceramicist.
“She develops a style of her own, secretive and beautiful, strikingly often with motifs drawn from nature's storehouse of leaves, grasses, flowers, stones, shells, clams... It becomes noticeable in comics such as the impactful Paprika, the slightly surreal Athene and the organic and dark Marina.” (Magnus Palm: The Great Book of Upsala-Ekeby, 2018, page 199).

Anna-Lisa Thomson devotes more and more time to painting, drawing and diction. She spends several months each year in Grundsund in Bohuslän by the sea, with friends and creation. She began her adult life as a ceramist in industry, and ended as a free artist.