{"id":594,"date":"2018-11-29T20:00:28","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T20:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/?p=594"},"modified":"2022-02-06T20:43:52","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T20:43:52","slug":"chinese-shadows-on-swedish-stages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/chinese-shadows-on-swedish-stages\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Shadows on Swedish Stages"},"content":{"rendered":"

Margareta S\u00f6renson<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n

Abstract:<\/strong> Sweden was late in launching an East Indian Company. The trends from the royal courts in Europe were already profoundly influential in Sweden, when the eighteenth century opened for a blossom in Chinese art and craft. Chinese styles and Chinese inspired aesthetics became a sign of taste and wealth, obvious in architecture, interior decoration, in materials such as silk, porcelain and lacquer, and in the arts and the stage. However, the first delight in and respect of Chinese tradition gradually developed into a colonial clich\u00e9, dance being a telling example.<\/p>\n

Keywords:<\/strong> stereotypes, dance, kineseri, exoticism<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sweden\u2019s Versailles, the royal palace Drottningholm, is beautifully situated west of Stockholm, on one of the many large islands in the lake M\u00e4laren. Once a summer palace of the royal family, the estate is today a residence of the king and queen. A smaller part of the park is a perfect example of a baroque garden, the vaster parts in so called English park style, well arranged to look \u201dnatural\u201d with ponds, lawns and huge oak and elm trees\u2014perfect for picnics for the many visitors. The palace together with its lanes, surrounding buildings and gardens are since 1991 a UNESCO World Heritage.<\/p>\n

There are several treasures among the buildings, such as the theatre from the mid-eighteenth century, still used in summertime for operas, theatre and dance. The performances are not too many, as the wooden building, with trompe-l\u2019oeil painted walls pretending to be luxurious marble, must be protected and spared also for generations to come. But strolling in the park might also lead to the somewhat remote Chinese Pavillon, built between 1753 and 1769, in Chinese inspired rococo style. Bright pink with green copper roof, yellow decorations and Chinese dragons finalizing the roof\u2019s elegant curves \u00e0 la chinois<\/em>, it looks like a toy and a jewellery box. Recently restored, it is a true pleasure to visit\u2014modest in measurements, agreeably open to the garden\u2014and every inch of it \u201cfake\u201d Chinese. The aesthetical influence from China in far North Sweden during the eighteenth century is a fascinating story with footprints in arts and design, as well as in the theatre for a very long time, in fact until our days.<\/p>\n

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Mrs Dulondel with her \u201dtreasure” in Drottningholm; the French dancer Marie Dulondel, most likely taking a walk with the ballet master Gallodier. Earlier, the French ballerina \u201dimported\u201d to the Swedish court theatre, had as a gift from the king four pair of shoes in Chinese silk\u2014a true luxury.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Poor but Rich <\/strong><\/h5>\n

The kingdom of Sweden closed its martial history in the beginning of the eighteenth century with the death of Charles XII. The nation was poor, and the finances were problematic; new military plans were out of reach. A new interest in mercantilism was growing, the era of illumination was well received with many steps forward in science, but trade was still depending on the privileges from the king to be able to operate. In 1731, however, an East Indian Company was finally founded, co-financed by the king, and based in Gothemburg at the Swedish west coast, from where its fleet sailed to China and India. The first ship to leave in 1732 sailed to China and arrived in Guangzhou, well noted in the official chronicle of the Quing dynasty (Qing Shi Gao \u6e05\u53f2\u7a3f, chapter 159), and the first direct contact between Sweden and China was established.<\/p>\n

The Swedish aristocrats, the royal families and the court had for decades organized the life of the court according to the great model of elegance, courtesy and finesse: the French Royal court. The language spoken in the Swedish court was French, the foreign theatre companies were French or Italian-speaking French, the French language was established for theatre as well as ballet, for architecture, plastic arts, design and fashion.<\/p>\n

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Chinese porcelain was imported to Sweden by the Swedish East Indian Company founded in 1737. Time for delivery was two to three years. This cup is a replica from the Museum of Gothenburg. Photo: Ulf S\u00f6renson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For generations, the Swedish royal family had married their princes with German princesses, and the entry into Sweden of queen Lovisa Ulrika, sister to Friedrich the Great of Preussen, in the first decades of the eighteenth century, meant an entirely French orientation of the court. Lovisa Ulrika, a personal friend of Voltaire, found the Swedish standard of culture poor and provincial. She complained to her mother in Germany, and asked for contacts, cultural news and suggestions for the Swedish court. Within some years, she could enjoy a vivid French style culture around her, with theatre, balls, masquerades and excursions where everyone was dressed up as shepherds or as Vikings in an exclusive playfulness performed in real life.<\/p>\n

The Chinese Fashion and Sign of Wealth<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The Chinese style and Oriental inspiration was part of the French trend. Blue and white Chinese porcelain was ordered by wealthy Swedes from China with monograms\u2014the time for delivery was normally two or three years. Silk was the highest fashion in men\u2019s and women\u2019s cloths, hats, gloves, in stockings and in shoes\u2014extremely expensive. Silk, woven or with painted patterns for walls was a luxury possibility for the richest. In parallel with the blue-and-white porcelain, the style in Europe called \u201dFamille rose<\/em>\u201d (known in Chinese as Fencai (\u7c89\u5f69) or Ruancai) was equally popular since the 1720s, with its delicate pink and green flowers and leaves lingering in asymmetric, organic patterns. In contrast to older Swedish folklore tradition, the Chinese style is airy, light, rich in pastel colors and brightness, inventive in its anti-symmetric thinking, poetic in its elegant way of catching a moment in a quick sketch.<\/p>\n

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Taste and money: two Chinese figurines in the window of Stora Nyckelviken. Photo: Ulf S\u00f6renson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Curiously enough, no Chinese person was even close to the pavilion. The little palace was conceived by a Swedish architect, Carl-Fredrik Adelcrantz, exquisite and sensitive to styles in trends; carpenters and others involved were Swedish, topped by French and Italian artists for more advanced decorations. The whole Chinese style fascination was based on imported pictures and artifacts and the \u201cbig brother\u201d in culture setting the score: the French royal court.<\/p>\n

Protectionists<\/strong><\/h5>\n

In political terms, the great thirst for foreign products was not seen as healthy by the national powers and different restrictions and interdictions were introduced from the 1730s on: the so called \u201cluxury legislation,\u201d a protectionist law that tried to make the country independent of other nations and powers. Thus, coffee, chocolate, punch and other colonial products were forbidden and reserved only for the royal court and the aristocracy. Consequently, a network of underground coffee shops started to grow in Stockholm. A long row of experiments to cultivate mulberry trees and silk masks failed repeatedly, and, finally, the Swedish climate put an end to the dream of domestic silk production. To import raw silk and at least weave it in Sweden was a solution, as well as to encourage the new material, cotton.<\/p>\n

At the court theatre, the French actress Marie Marguerite Morel-Dulondel, a member of a French theatre group, had as a personal gift from king Adolf Fredrik, whose mistress she was for a couple of years: four pairs of silk shoes for the performances. A member of the audience notes the excellence of Mme Dulondel when she played in Les chinois<\/em>, a French comedy by Regnard, where some of the acts were commedia dell\u2019arte lazzis, imitating a \u201cChinese doctor\u201d: I have to confess that this little lady has many qualities, she dances well, she acts well and she sings well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The \u201dvolailler<\/em>\u201d of the Chinese pavilion in Drottningholm; a cage for exotic birds. Photo: Ulf S\u00f6renson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In dance, ethnic styles\u2014danse de caract\u00e8re<\/em>\u2014is a much appreciated and entertaining variation. A Chinese style in dance is often profiled of quick, running steps, angled feet and fingertips in the air, in contrast to other folklore based dance styles, such as the Italian tarantella or the Hungarian czardas. More than 150 years later, Petipa-Ivanov still felt tempted to use several different cultural styles in The Nutcracker<\/em>, to take one well-known example, where the short Chinese dance is a sequence with choreographed \u201cChinese\u201d stereotypes, as well as others like the Arabian dance.<\/p>\n

Video 1<\/h6>\n