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Marik Vos-Lundh

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Marik Vos-Lundh
Born
Marie-Anne Ericsson

(1923-06-03)June 3, 1923
Petrograd, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
DiedJuly 13, 1994(1994-07-13) (aged 71)
Gotland, Sweden
Other namesMarik Vos
Occupations
  • Costume designer
  • production designer
  • scenic designer
Years active1946–1982
Spouses
  • Bengt Olof Vos
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1947; div. 1959)​
  • Börje Lundh
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1962; died 1972)​

Marie-Anne "Marik" Vos-Lundh (née Ericsson; 3 June 1923 – 13 July 1994) was a Swedish costume designer, production designer, and set designer. She is best known to international audiences for her frequent collaborations with director Ingmar Bergman. She has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design three times for her work on Bergman's films, winning for Fanny and Alexander (1982).

Early life and education

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Vos-Lundh was born on June 3, 1923, in Petrograd, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, to a Russian mother and a Swedish father. In 1932, her family emigrated to Sweden.[1] At the age of twelve, she decided to become a set designer after being fully captivated by theater since her childhood.[2] In spite of the 1940s' lack of professional training in scenic design, she pursued courses that she believed would improve her crafting skills.[1] She enrolled at the Konstfack, University of Arts, Crafts and Design in 1939 to study decorative painting, perspective theory, and watercolor; she graduated in 1943. Between 1942 and 1944, she also attended the Otte Skölds School of Painting and worked at the Royal Dramatic Theatre (a.k.a. Dramaten) to immerse herself in scenography.[1]

Career

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Long, white dress in a museum
White dresses worn by Ingrid Thulin in Cries and Whispers, designed by Vos-Lundh.

Vos-Lundh began her professional career in 1944 when she joined the Dramaten, a faithful commitment that lasted for 40 years. Her first major theater credit came with creating the sets for Olof Molander's 1946 production of Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard.[2] She alternated between designing the sets and costumes for more than 120 different stage productions in the subsequent years. Eventually, she was appointed the Dramaten's decoration manager in 1963 and its production manager in the following year.[1]

Vos-Lundh collaborated with many renowned directors throughout her distinguished theater career, including Alf Sjöberg, Mimi Pollak, Rune Carlsten, Bengt Ekerot, Per-Axel Branner, and Ingmar Bergman, among others. In particular, their long-standing professional relationship with Bergman has introduced her work to a global audience. It all started on Dramaten's stage when she was tasked with providing the costumes and set design for the director's 1961 production of Chekhov's The Seagull.[2]

Despite enjoying a celebrated career in theatre, perhaps Vos-Lundh's most memorable work that achieved widespread recognition may well have been her frequent partnership with Bergman on some of his most critically acclaimed films. She gained international prominence and earned an Academy Award nomination with her first major film credit for creating costumes for Bergman's influential 1960 period drama, The Virgin Spring.[1] Their earlier screen collaboration also includes the 1963 austere drama The Silence and the 1968 psychological horror Hour of the Wolf, while the latter stands out as her first film effort on production rather than costume design.[1]

Over the course of the pair's well-established creative collaboration, Vos-Lundh and Bergman have developed a similar view on utilizing the color scheme in costuming and art direction as a cinematic technique that affects the film's perception or even determines its themes.[2] This mutual approach has achieved brilliant execution in Bergman's 1972 period classic, Cries and Whispers. She was responsible for designing the visually striking crimson-blood interiors as well as the beautifully contrasting white and black turn-of-the-century gowns.[2] Vos-Lundh's distinctive contribution to the film's aesthetic was instantly recognizable and highly acclaimed, resulting in another Oscar nomination for her remarkable costumes.[1]

Vos-Lundh and Bergman reunited again about a decade later for his semi-autobiographical 1982 family saga, Fanny and Alexander. Working on that highly ambitious and deeply personal director's project, which turned out to be the biggest challenge of her own illustrious career, she was charged with designing a total of 250 costumes for the principal actors, along with over 1000 outfits for the extras.[3] During the pre-production, Bergman instructed her to imagine the world through the children's eyes; therefore, she allowed herself some artistic liberties not necessarily loyal to period-typical wardrobes and created the film's magical reality instead of replicating more authentic clothes.[2] Vos-Lundh received high praise for her immaculate work, along with winning the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.[3] She became just the second Swedish designer to win in the category.[4] In 1984, Vos-Lundh detailed her experiences making costumes for the film in the book Dräkterna i dramat: mitt år med Fanny och Alexander.

Other ventures

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Besides her acclaimed professional work on stage and screen, Vos-Lundh was known for her community activism. She was elected a member of the Nya Idun, a Swedish women's cultural association, in 1960, and she served as the society's chairman from 1977 to 1980.[1]

In the 1980s, after leaving Stockholm to settle down in Vamlingbo, she became involved in Suderlamm, a local environmental protection project that included wool production and created further job opportunities for women.[2] Among other activities, she also participated in her community's religious life, serving as a churchwarden at Vamlingbo Church.[1]

Selected film credits

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Year Title Director Credited as Notes
Costume Designer Production Designer
1960 The Virgin Spring Ingmar Bergman Yes No
1962 Adventures of Nils Holgersson Kenne Fant Yes No
1963 The Silence Ingmar Bergman Yes No
1968 Hour of the Wolf No Yes
1972 Cries and Whispers Yes Yes
1982 Fanny and Alexander Yes No Also released in a longer television version

Awards and nominations

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Award Year Category Work Result Ref.
Academy Awards 1961 Best Costume Design – Black and White The Virgin Spring Nominated [5]
1974 Best Costume Design Cries and Whispers Nominated [6]
1984 Fanny and Alexander Won [7]
British Academy Film Awards 1984 Best Costume Design Fanny and Alexander Nominated [8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Marik Vos". nyaidun.se (in Swedish). 2021-09-10. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Marik Vos". nordicwomeninfilm.com (in Swedish). 2019-09-10. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
  3. ^ a b Holmberg, Jan (ed.). "Fanny and Alexander". The Ingmar Bergman Foundation. Archived from the original on 14 December 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  4. ^ "Oscar". Swedish Film Institute (SFI). Archived from the original on October 6, 2024. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  5. ^ "The 33rd Academy Awards (1961) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on October 15, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  6. ^ "The 46th Academy Awards (1974) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on March 15, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  7. ^ "The 56th Academy Awards (1984) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  8. ^ "The 37th British Academy Film Awards (1984) Nominees and Winners". British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
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