The Scandinavian flat-plane style is a traditional form of figure carving recognized for its bold, faceted surfaces. Figures are shaped with a carving knife, using deliberate cuts that create large, flat planes. Tool marks are intentionally left visible, giving each piece its character. Very little rounding or sanding is done, which helps preserve the crisp geometry of the carving. Swedish-born American artist Emil Janel is widely regarded as one of the finest practitioners of this style.
The Principle of Flat-Plane Relief
Scandinavian flat-plane carving, popularized by the works of Norwegian artists like Axel Petersson (Döderhultarn), is defined by its distinctive technique where all surfaces are cut with flat, angular planes, completely rejecting rounded or smoothed edges. This style uses simple knife cuts—primarily stop cuts, slicing cuts, and chip cuts—to quickly define facial features, clothing, and limbs in sharp geometric facets, creating a robust, almost cubist quality to the figures. The absence of detailed smoothing results in a deliberate ruggedness that celebrates the tool marks and allows light to catch the distinct facets, giving the figures a strong, folk-art personality.
Character, Caricature, and Subject Matter
Flat-plane carving typically focuses on depicting everyday, humble figures, such as farmers, fishermen, musicians, and villagers, often capturing a specific, lively pose or humorous situation. The style excels at caricature, using exaggerated proportions—large heads, simple button eyes, and expressive postures—to imbue the figures with a deep sense of personality and folk humor. Unlike highly polished classical sculpture, the charm of these pieces lies in their immediate readability and the way the flat cuts convey action and emotion through simple, angular gestures, appealing directly to the viewer’s sense of narrative and everyday life.
Materials, Tooling, and Minimalist Finishing
The flat-plane technique relies heavily on the use of softwoods like basswood (known as limewood or linden in Europe) or pine due to their fine, straight grain, which allows for clean, unchipped, angular cuts. The carving process itself is characterized by a minimalist approach to tooling, typically requiring only a single, sharp sloyd knife and perhaps a few shallow gouges for larger areas or concave curves like hats. Crucially, the finishing process is equally restrained; many pieces are left unpainted, receiving only a coat of wax or a clear oil to protect the wood and highlight the natural color and texture, reinforcing the connection to traditional, humble folk art.
Color Application and the Matte Aesthetic
While many flat-plane carvings are left natural and oiled, an equally defining characteristic is the application of simple, non-shaded, matte paint, often in bold primary and secondary colors like reds, blues, and yellows. This finishing step is not intended to hide the craftsmanship; instead, the paint is applied thinly, allowing the underlying texture of the knife cuts and the geometric facets to remain visible and contributing to the piece’s visual depth. The colors are used in blocks to quickly define clothing and features, enhancing the piece’s folk-art charm and exaggerating the figure’s character without relying on classical shading or realism.
Composition and Narrative Groupings
A crucial element of Scandinavian flat-plane carving is the creation of small, often humorous or touching narrative scenes involving multiple figures grouped together on a single block of wood. These groupings require the carver to use the negative space sparingly, allowing the flat, simple planes of each character to interact physically and visually to tell a story, such as musicians playing or friends sharing a moment. The composition relies on the deliberate placement of hands, tools, and postures, all defined by stark, angular cuts, to direct the viewer’s eye and convey the relationship and action between the figures without needing intricate detail or realistic settings.
Accessories, Attached Parts, and Clothing Folds
A key technical aspect of creating more complex flat-plane figures involves defining accessory details and realistic clothing textures using deep V-cuts and geometric planes. While the core body is carved from a single block, delicate elements like fishing rods, pipes, or violin bows are often carved separately and attached using wooden dowels or glue, adding fragility and fine detail that contrasts with the figure’s robust shape. Clothing, such as hats, scarves, and coats, is represented by bold, angular planes that suggest deep folds and creases, achieved through carefully placed stop cuts and pronounced V-cuts, which add visual interest and help delineate different painted areas.
Defining Hands and Faces with Minimal Detail
The flat-plane technique demands that complex features like human hands and faces be rendered using the fewest possible cuts, resulting in highly stylized, yet expressive, minimalism. Hands are typically defined by a single, deep V-cut to separate the thumb, with the remaining fingers suggested by blunt, flat planes, while eyes are often indicated by simple drilled holes or small, triangular chips. This intentional lack of fine detail forces the viewer to rely on the figure’s posture and the geometric definition of the planes to interpret emotion, preserving the powerful, simplified aesthetic that is central to the style’s charm.
Relief Carving and Environmental Elements
While the flat-plane style is predominantly known for fully three-dimensional figures, the same angular, faceted technique is effectively applied to relief carving to depict backgrounds, landscapes, or architectural features. In relief work, the deep, geometric cuts create varying depths that suggest objects like trees, fences, and buildings, maintaining the distinct stylistic unity even in two dimensions. This approach allows the carver to introduce a setting for their figures, using the clean, sharp facets of the background to complement the equally angular planes of the main subject, ensuring the entire scene is rendered with the same bold, impressionistic folk aesthetic.
Cultural Significance and Simple Base Treatment
The longevity of flat-plane carving is rooted in its role as a vital form of Scandinavian folk art, often depicting characters from local folklore, historical events, or famous literature, thereby preserving and celebrating regional culture. While the figures themselves are complex, the bases are typically kept simple, often a single, flat slab of wood stained dark or painted a solid color, which provides stability without distracting from the angularity and dynamism of the main subject. This deliberate contrast—dynamic figure, static base—reinforces the focus on the figure’s expression and narrative, ensuring the carved plane remains the central element of the rustic and expressive art form.
Dynamic Posture and the Play of Shadow
The minimalist nature of flat-plane carving necessitates that the figures’ character and action are conveyed entirely through their overall posture and silhouette, rather than through complex internal detail. Carvers intentionally lean and pose the figures, often tilting heads, bending knees, and spreading arms to suggest lively motion, resulting in a dramatic, almost theatrical stance. This angular posing maximizes the technique’s signature feature: the sharp, unrounded planes catch the light and cast strong, geometric shadows that change dramatically with the viewing angle, reinforcing the rustic, robust, and highly expressive quality of the piece.
Materials, Tooling, and Minimalist Finishing
The flat-plane technique relies heavily on the use of softwoods like basswood (known as limewood or linden in Europe) or pine due to their fine, straight grain, which allows for clean, unchipped, angular cuts. The carving process itself is characterized by a minimalist approach to tooling, typically requiring only a single, sharp sloyd knife and perhaps a few shallow gouges for larger areas or concave curves like hats. Crucially, the finishing process is equally restrained; many pieces are left unpainted, receiving only a coat of wax or a clear oil to protect the wood and highlight the natural color and texture, reinforcing the connection to traditional, humble folk art.
Color Application and the Matte Aesthetic
While many flat-plane carvings are left natural and oiled, an equally defining characteristic is the application of simple, non-shaded, matte paint, often in bold primary and secondary colors like reds, blues, and yellows. This finishing step is not intended to hide the craftsmanship; instead, the paint is applied thinly, allowing the underlying texture of the knife cuts and the geometric facets to remain visible and contributing to the piece’s visual depth. The colors are used in blocks to quickly define clothing and features, enhancing the piece’s folk-art charm and exaggerating the figure’s character without relying on classical shading or realism.
