Ivar Kreuger och Tändstickspalatset.

This paper deals with the character of the conditions valid for patronage in architecture, and also how the artist and his patron are jointly responsible for a work of art. More precisely Ivar Kreuger's not much recognized role as a favourer of architecture is illustrated. The financier Ivar Kreuger (1880-1932) and the architect Ivar Tengborn (1878-1968) were of about the same age. They both came from provincial families of no great importance and started their truly exceptional careers with studies in technology. Kreuger was like a Renaissance prince, and in the mid-twenties he accordingly decided to build the extraordinary business palace in Stockholm known as the Match Palace. To build a palace is the archetypical act of an art patron and Tengborn was appointed architect for this important task. In these years a reinterpretation of the fundamental legacy from antiquity and the Renaissance was strongly desired. The new spirit had already been given artistic form by Tengbom. His remarkable achievements have too long been rated second to the works of S. Lewerentz and E. G. Asplund. Asplund's reputation is now supported by his function as a point of reference in post-modern architecture. Tengbom was however the far more important stylistic forerunner of mannerist classicism. Already in 1912 Tengbom defined the new style in Stockholms Enskilda Bank Hq. and he kept his leading position all the way to its artistic culmination in the Match Palace. In a few years Kreuger had created a global monopoly in the match industry. Matches were only one branch of a complicated structure of world-wide financial operations focussed at the Swedish Match Company. The palace was begun in 1926 and was completed in spring 1928. Tengborn put to work a group of architects and outstanding artists: R. Hult, T. Wennerbalm, G. Cederwall, C. Milles, S. Gate, A. Almquist, R. Lindsträm, E. Dahlskog, E. Gullberg, A. Munthe, I. Grünewald and C. Malmsten. Many of them were well-known from the decoration work of Tengbom's Stockholm Concert Hall and from the Paris exhibition in 1925. Kreuger needed symbols for his mission as a patron for mankind. The symbols used refer both to universalism and to a cult of the company. The Prometheus theme is illustrated in the court-yard pavement as well as in a great fresco by Isaac Grünewald in the session hall. Other works illustrate 'The five continents worship the fire' and Carl Milles' fountain represents Diana.… [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]