Untitled

When Katrine Helmersson passed away in 2024, she left behind a body of work that was as powerful as it was perplexing. As a seasoned international traveller, as well as a renowned expert on ethnographic cult objects and artefacts from non-European cultures, her sculptures, more often than not, were characterised by their universal and ambiguous shapes. One famous example could be found in Helmersson’s celebrated sculpture La Veuve, a version of which is also in the collections of the Firestorm Foundation.

As pointed out by Ulrika Sten (who curated Helmersson’s mid-career retrospective Pochoir at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Stockholm, 15 November 2014 – 1 February 2015), ‘Katrine Helmersson’s art is both sensual and symbolic, with frequent references to the body and physical imprints of the artist herself.’ There’s no doubt that Untitled matches Sten’s description. The composition directly references the human body, whilst it also potentially, if vaguely, could be seen as depicting the artist, thus bearing her physical imprint. Are we faced with a thinly disguised self-portrait? Regardless, it is safe to say that the piece in question comes across as sensual as well as symbolic.

The sensual aspect of the sculpture is reinforced by the excessively long neck supporting the head. A stylistic device that relates the sculpture to the so-called Mannerism of the Italian Renaissance. Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530, and lasting until the end of the 16th century when the Baroque style largely replaced it. Northern Mannerism continued, however, into the early 17th century. Where High Renaissance art emphasises proportion, balance, and ideal beauty, Mannerism exaggerates such qualities, often resulting in compositions that are asymmetrical or unnaturally elegant. Notable for its artificial (as opposed to naturalistic) qualities, this artistic style privileges compositional tension and instability rather than the balance and clarity of earlier Renaissance painting. A celebrated and famous example could be found in Parmigianino’s (1503–1540, Italian painter whose work was characterised by a ‘refined sensuality’ and often elongation of forms) painting Madonna dal collo lungo/Madonna with the Long Neck (1535-1540, oil on wood, 216 x 132 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy).

The sensual aspect of the sculpture is balanced by its symbolic ditto. The fact that the piece was acquired under the name Untitled offers few, or no, clues to any, potential, underlying theme or meaning. The fact that it was originally gifted from the artist to the original owner could also indicate that we’re dealing with a unique piece.

However, when compared to Oracle I, II, III (patinated bronze and oak, 5 x 5 x 6 cm, Edition 50) from 2002, a potential reading of the motif crystallises. Oracle I, II, III comprise six small bronze heads (with elongated necks), seemingly identical to Untitled (albeit on a much smaller scale). Based on the aforementioned similarities and the fact that Untitled (cast in 1998) predates Oracle I, II, III by four years, it doesn’t seem entirely impossible that the sculpture in the collections of the Firestorm Foundation is an early (and potentially) unique example of Helmersson’s contemporary take on the artistic theme of the ancient phenomenon of oracles.

An oracle was a person or thing/place considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. The word oracle comes from the Latin verb ōrāre, ‘to speak’ and properly refers to the priest or priestess uttering the prediction. In extended use, oracle may also refer to the site of the oracle, and the oracular utterances themselves are called khrēsmoí (χρησμοί) in Greek. Oracles were thought to be portals through which the gods spoke directly to people. In this sense, they were different from seers (manteis, μάντεις) who interpreted signs sent by the gods through bird signs, animal entrails, and other various methods. The most important oracles of Greek antiquity were Pythia (priestess to Apollo at Delphi) and the oracle of Dione and Zeus at Dodona in Epirus. Other oracles of Apollo were located at Didyma and Mallus on the coast of Anatolia, at Corinth and Bassae in the Peloponnese, and at the islands of Delos and Aegina in the Aegean Sea.

The motif in question has long been well known in Western art history. Two famous examples are to be found in Michelangelo’s (1475–1564, Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance who was lauded by contemporary biographers as the most accomplished artist of his era) depiction of the Delphic Sibyl on the Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508-1512) in Rome and John William Waterhouse’s (1849–1917, English painter working in the Academic style, before embracing the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood’s style, in depictions of beautiful women from ancient Greek mythology in a historical costume and setting) Consulting the Oracle (1884, oil on canvas, 119 x 118 cm, Tate Britain, London).

With Untitled, in the collections of the Firestorm Foundation, Helmersson, thus, potentially has added another (albeit contemporary) take on the theme of the Oracle.

Signed and dated: ‘Katrine Helmersson 1998’.

Foundry mark: ‘H Bergman fud’.

Provenance

Private collection (gift directly from the artist).

Bukowskis, Stockholm, sale 662, Contemporary Art & Design, 16 April 2025, lot 227.

Firestorm Foundation (acquired from the above).