Country Houses of Sweden [Hardcover]

Barbara Stoeltie (Author), TASCHEN (Creator), René Stoeltie (Author), Angelika Taschen (Author)

Book Description

Series: Special | Publication Date: June 15, 2001

Part of Taschen's Country Houses series, this book illustrates the magnificence of castles and manor houses of Sweden. Barbara and Rene Stoeltie journeyed through Sweden in search of exceptional houses to write about and photograph. Featuring a castle filled with family treasures, a wood built farm, a forgotten artist's studio built on a cliff by the Baltic and the house in which Astrid Lindgren, the creator of Pippi Longstocking, was born. Text and poetry praises the land and photographs capture its romance.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

With captions in English, Swedish, and French, this collection of handsome photographs will appeal to world travelers searching for the perfect resting place. Here a reader can get lost in placid lakes reflecting unthreatening clouds; a white sunlit room of peeling paint and alluring bookshelves; a dusky bedroom in which the walls are papered with botanical illustrations. Some of these Swedish country houses have been turned into museums, and some are private homes. Painter Anders Zorn's studio has been preserved exactly as he left it when he died in 1920--his "Zorngarden" is a marvel of gilt-framed mirrors and stunning, somber portraits.

No particular aesthetic prevails in this coffee-table book. Some homes have been modernized, replete with Martha Stewart-style amenities. And the images aren't only distant shots of interiors; a photograph from the Varpet estate near Stockholm shows jars of freshly made jam on a chipped white countertop. What's constant throughout Country Houses of Sweden is a sense of delicious luxury and relaxation. Like a Merchant-Ivory film, it's the kind of book that makes you want to get dressed up. --Emily White

Language Notes

Text: English, German, French

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Taschen (June 15, 2001)
• Language: German
• ISBN-10: 3822858684
• ISBN-13: 978-3822858684
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,849,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Book and Wide-ranging, April 6, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Country Houses of Sweden (Hardcover)

This is a beautifully presented publication. Its padded hard cover and thick paper quality are matched by excellent colour photographs.

The choices of homes is good: from palaces to simple country cottages. The text for each home is limited because of space for translation into French and German, but its gives a personal background to each building and interior.

It has none of the frilly interiors or silly text that often accompanies the English versions of Scandinavian interior books.

It is an excellent companion to The Swedish Room, which gives a more comprehensive historical perspective.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful exploration of design as it relates to culture, December 15, 2009

By 

K. Casey "librarian mom" (Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Country Houses of Sweden (Hardcover)

Not long after I checked this book out from the library, I was wild to own it!
The first reviewer is right -- these are not "cutesy" or "quaint" old houses. In poring
over the many, many rooms and homes included in this volume, I felt I gained some understanding of
Scandinavian design in general. [the following is overly-enthusiastic and probably painful for those who are truly knowledgeable]

Many of the styles represented can be described as spare, simple and unpretentious. The clean lines of this aesthetic seemed to me to border on the exquisite. Not just "form follows function," though. Ranging from an artist's colorful, almost eccentric home to the all-white interior of a flat in a centuries-old stone building: almost all of the examples chosen show a strong sense of place and time, and a sensitive and respectful response to the design and nature of the house.