Snowglobe

Paintings of communities in winter

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Okay, so “Snowglobe” may be a fanciful title for this line of paintings. (For one, Margit never shows snow actually falling, much less swirling.) But she did create a number of wintery scenes of multiple houses, almost always with a church, in an idealized village setting. “Snowglobe” seems fitting for their quaint quality.

  • ID: 67-28 “Winter scene chr”
  • Details: 20″ x 24″ / Orig price: $12.00 / Initial owner: L Peterson
  • Comment: Note that the road appears to have been plowed, with banks of snow lining it. And yet not surprisingly it’s still snow-covered.

  • ID: 71-33 “winter church & village”
  • Details: 30″ x 24″ / Orig price: $40.00 (w/ frame) / Initial owner: D. Hempstead
  • Comment: Here the snow-covered road looks like it has been tracked over by feet or hooves only. At least no wheels have left their long grooves.

  • ID: 74-23 “winter church & village”
  • Details: 16″ x 20″ / Orig price: $15 / Initial owner: R&F Nowland
  • Comment: The setting is more reminiscent of New England than SE Minnesota. The snow is so recent that the road in the foreground hasn’t been cleared yet, but the evergreens don’t retain the recent snowfall. Well, not everything needs to make sense in this dreamworld.

    Note that the road appears to have been marked up only by the tracks of sleigh and horse.

  • ID: ?? [winter church]
  • Details: ??
  • Comment: Now the road in the foreground is so understated that it can easily be overlooked. Notice how almost all the trees are evergreens.

  • ID: ?? [winter church]
  • Details: ??
  • Comment: Again, a setting that’s as pretty as a postcard. And very unlikely to have been based on a specific location.

  • ID: 68-45 “Winter birch”
  • Details: 16″ x 20″ / Orig price: $5.00 / Initial owner: B. Jensen
  • Comment: Usually Margit uses trees (often birches) as a frame for the picture, like hands lovingly cupping a face. But here it’s impossible to look past the fact that the birch cluster is front and center. So what is the viewer to focus on? Although the scene is likely not representing an actual place, the randomness of its natural elements gives the setting a feeling of verisimilitude.