Bente Sætrang
Bente Sætrang, born in 1946, is a Norwegian textile artist for whom textile printing is a central practice.
Education and artistic development
She studied at the National College of Art and Design from 1969 to 1973, with teachers including Brit Fuglevaag and Gro Jessen. In 1974 she studied with Magdalena Abakanowicz at the art academy in Poznań. Early works often combined textile printing with appliqué or embroidery, using strong contrasts and figurative or ornamental elements.
Sætrang established a studio at Frysja in Oslo in 1974. She also contributed to craft artists' organisations and chaired Norske Kunsthåndverkere during two periods. In her practice, textile printing became a medium for large, independent pictorial works connected with both printmaking and textile traditions.
Used tarpaulins became central from the 1990s. Jessica Hemmings describes Sætrang drawing and painting imagined fabric folds on the used cloth, before developing larger abstract colour fields. The difference between the depicted fabric and the tarpaulin physically supporting the image becomes part of the work.
In En rest av nødvendighet in 2020, Sætrang returned to dyeing with indigosol. The exhibition combined textiles with charcoal and pastel drawings. She has also been a professor and head of textile education in Bergen, bringing teaching, material knowledge and her own work into dialogue.
Documented works and different techniques
KORO records Jump up! (4) (1984) as textile printing and collage on cotton damask. It measures 215 x 62 cm and bears the reference KORO.000830. This precise technique description shows why the work should not simply be called weaving.
Radio Mango (1994) is recorded as textile printing and paint on canvas, measuring 270 x 300 cm, reference KORO.004417. It documents a combination of printed and painted imagery on cloth. The object's catalogue record specifies the production method.
Breaking Black (2012) appeared in Retouch that year. In December 2025 Kunstnerforbundet, which facilitated the acquisition, reported that Tate Modern had purchased it. The work contrasts glossy, lacquered forms with raw textile surfaces and edges.
Material knowledge has also been communicated through books. Kokebok for indigosoler appeared in 2023 and was discussed at an artist conversation organised by Oslo Kunstforening. It provides insight into colour work as an independent part of her practice.
Original work, printing technique and condition
The term textile printing describes a technique and does not by itself establish a particular edition. Record the artist, any other maker, the supporting cloth and applied techniques separately. A number, letter or old stamp on reused tarpaulin should be investigated before being interpreted as a work number or signature.
For Sætrang, distinguishing a depicted fold from a physical fold is particularly important. Documentation should show both the surface from the front and the textile's actual construction. Existing patches, seams and holes should be compared with earlier photographs before being described as later damage or repairs. Used cloth or tarpaulin may already have had such traces when incorporated into the work.
The examined sources establish no universal signature rule for Sætrang. Record any inscription verbatim, with its location and execution. Gallery documents, the artist's work information and earlier exhibition photographs provide more precise evidence than material similarity alone. For a particular object, also describe new soiling, loose collage elements and altered hanging arrangements where actually observed.
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Sources
- Store norske leksikon: Bente Sætrang
- Norsk kunstnerleksikon: Bente Sætrang
- Norsk biografisk leksikon: Bente Sætrang
- Jessica Hemmings: Bente Sætrang's process and materials
- Kunstnerforbundet: En rest av nødvendighet, 2020
- KORO: Jump up! (4), 1984
- KORO: Radio Mango, 1994
- Kunstnerforbundet: Breaking Black, 2012, and Tate's acquisition
- Oslo Kunstforening: conversation with Bente Sætrang and Kokebok for indigosoler
