Eric Grate, The Well of Transformations

Eric Grate
The Well of Transformations

Eric Grate’s (Swedish 1896-1983) long artistic career began in the 1920s. His interest in the culture of classical antiquity brought him to Germany, Greece and Italy. He lived and worked in Paris in the late 20s and early 30s and was influenced by Surrealism during this time. His study of nature and the human body was nevertheless something he returned to time and again. He combined a Nordic view of nature with the experimental, creative expression of the international avant-garde. The artist himself described it as looking for the mysterious in the ordinary.

The Well of Transformations (granite 1944-55 purchased 1956) was meant to be as viewable from above, from the Marabou office building, as from inside the workers’ canteen. The well is a fountain consisting of a central block crowned with a bowl where water bubbles up and runs down into the shallow basin below. Columns supporting stone blocks with different embossed motifs surround the central block. Grate, working on this fountain towards the end of the Second World War and in the post war period, wanted to depict the vulnerability of life, but also its inherent power and capacity for regeneration.

The Well of Transformations was commissioned by Marabou for Marabou Park. The titles of the seven reliefs, read counter clockwise from southwest are:
The Beast War – depicted as a griffin, is attacking a woman.
The Horse and the Elk – Life in the shape of tamed as well as wild nature symbolised by a horse and an elk.
1945 – A mother is breastfeeding her child in the ruins of a city.
The Legend – Threatening demons surround a young girl.
The Dance – A picture of the unredeemed joy of living.
Mirror for night and day – A naked woman is standing, looking in a mirror, which is an ancient symbol for The Truth.
The Embrace – Life, pictured as a woman, is brought to life in an embrace.