Birgit Skiöld

Birgit Skiöld
Skiöld, c. 1968
Born	(1923-03-18)March 18, 1923 Stockholm,Sweden
Died	May 31, 1982(1982-05-31)(aged 59) London,England,UK
Education	Konstfack,Anglo-French Art Centre,University of Westminster,Académie de la Grande Chaumière
Occupation	Master printmaker
Known for	lithography,etching,em Boss ing,artist's book,collage
Spouse	Peter Bird (m. 1965–1982; death)

Birgit Skiöld(18 March 1923 – 18 May 1982) was aSwedishmaster printmakerandmodernist artistwho ran the highly successfulPrint Workshopin the basement of 28Charlotte Street,Londonfrom 1958 to the late 1970s.She was a noted member of the London art scene during that period, and her life is commemorated by an eponymous award for innovation in printmaking.

Early life and studies

Skiöld was born inStockholm,Swedenin 1923.She studied furniture design at Stockholm Tekniska Skolan (nowKonstfackUniversity College of Arts, Crafts and Design), and moved to London in 1948.There she studied at theAnglo-French Art Centre,making connections with artistsFrancis Bacon,Eduardo Paolozziand curator/writerDavid Sylvester.She was inspired to try printmaking following alithographicexhibition featuringMax ErnstandOskar Kokoschka.She studied printmaking withHenry Trivickand etching (with Richard Beer) at the Regent Street Polytechnic (now theUniversity of Westminster).She completed her studies inParisat theAcadémie de la Grande Chaumièrein 1954.

Print Workshop

On returning from Paris, Skiöld set up a printmaking workshop in George Street inMarylebonewith a lithographic press and stones acquired fromVanessa Belland previously used byEdward Ardizzone.Feeling the need to expand and collaborate, Skiöld set up thePrint Workshopin the basement ofAdrianand Corinne Heath's house inCharlotte Street,Fitzrovia.The workshop's ethos was inspired byStanley William Hayter’sAtelier 17in Paris and partly byMyfanwy Piper's comments onBBC Radiothat London needed "an atelier where artists and professional engravers can inspire each other.”The setup process began in 1956 and the presses were transferred to Charlotte Street in May 1958.

Artists sought out thePrint Workshopto use the facilities, share knowledge and learn from Skiöld. These includedMichael Ayrton,Fionnuala Boyd,Kathan Brown,Jim Dine,David Hockney,Allen Jones,Eduardo Paolozzi,Tom Phillips,Dieter Roth,Michael Rothenstein,William Tillyer,Joe TilsonandWilliam G. Tucker.

It was unusual for a woman to be running such a prominent establishment at this time,but Skiöld's personality and connections led to a space she described as: “Not a business, not a college, not a gallery, simply an idea which has worked.” Her husband Peter Bird, director ofBradford City Art Galleries and Museums,described it as having "a lively and industrious atmosphere, when it was at its best, and a little chaotic on a bad day."

Students at theRoyal College of Art,Central School of ArtandChelsea School of Art,among others, benefitted from her printmaking lectures, and she taught workshops in universities in the United States, Sweden and Japan.

Robert Erskine, who ran the St George's Gallery at 7 Cork Street, and who was to be influential in encouraging Stanley Jones to set up the Curwen Press, another operation with Fitzrovia connections through the Curwen Gallery in Windmill Street, was a generous supporter of Skiöld's vision. They were to organise several exhibitions ofPrint Workshopartists together over the coming years.

Work

Skiöld was a pioneer in championing the status of printmaking as art, and experimenting with techniques including em Boss ing, mixed media, Xerox printing and collage. She was also an early exponent of theartist's book(livre d’artiste), working on occasion with texts by other famous Fitzrovia residents, past and present.

Her first artist's book incorporated texts by the pre-Raphaelite painterDante Gabriel Rossetti,who was born at No.38 Charlotte Street and later lived at No.50, and at 37 Fitzroy Square.

A shared love of Japan led her to produce three bookworks with poet and travel writerJames Kirkup.The first,Scenes from Sesshuwas published in 1977, the same year that the charge of blasphemous libel was resurrected and used for the first time in 50 years to prosecuteGay Newsfor publishing Kirkup's poemThe Love That Dares to Speak Its Name.Kirkup was a well known fixture in the pubs and clubs of Fitzrovia, and was renting a room above a shoe shop at 77A Tottenham Court Road from 1948.

Her archived papers are held at theVictoria and Albert Museum.

External links

• Birgit Skiöld's work in the Victoria & Albert Museum
• Birgit Skiold Memorial Trust
• "Breaking the Silence: Birgit Skiöld".Northern Print. Archived fromthe originalon 4 March 2016.Retrieved12 March2015.