Tonie Lewenhaupt: Paper, Fashion & Collage

Tonie Lewenhaupt is a costume historian, author, curator, and illustrator. She started out as a fashion journalist in the 1960s before going on to work as a freelance stylist, designer, assistant, consultant, collector, and curator.

A large part of Tonie’s collection of fashion garments has been donated to the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg. ”The Lewenhaupt Fashion Collection” spans from the late 1800s to the late 1990s.In this auction, we’ve had the opportunity to offer collages that Tonie made for her books, primarily ”The Lewenhaupt Fashion Collection,” ”Finns i fler färger och storlekar” (”Available in More Colors and Sizes”), and the recently published ”Bakom häcken” (”Behind the Hedge”).

Tonie collects beautiful papers, which she loves to buy on her travels. She cuts these out freehand and paints them, and in her collages they come to life. The paper alone can make an image work; the pieces are not fully glued flat to the surface, which creates an effect of shadows that adds an extra dimension to both the collages and the books they illustrate.