Elli Hemberg was the daughter of the provost Johan Hemberg, and his wife Signe Hedenius, an artist whose father was the notable Swedish Professor of medicine Per Hedenius. She grew up in the Swedish town of Skövde, and later attended Wilhelmsons School of Art, run by the painter Carl Wilhelmson. In September 1923 Hemberg married the Swedish physician Sven Erlandsson in Våmbs Church, outside Skövde. Over the following years she undertook several study trips around Europe: Italy and Paris, Vienna and Italy, Paris, Norway, and Holland.
Hemberg's early work consisted primarily of portraits and landscapes. Her first major exhibition was as part of the 'November Exhibition' in 1922 at Liljevalch's Art Gallery in Stockholm. She then had her first solo-exhibition at 'Galerie Moderne' in Stockholm. In the 1940s she initiated a close collaboration with the avant-garde artist Otto Carlsund, who experimented with cubism, purism and neoplasticism. The two displayed their work in 1947 at Konstnärshuset in Stockholm. During this period Hemberg began transitioning towards a more abstract style, focusing on form and rhythm, which eventually led to her transitioning from painting to sculpture.
Sculpture
In the mid 1960s, Hemberg, together with Olle Bærtling and Karl Göte Bejemark, among others, were part of the art salon 'Samlaren', and considered at the forefront of Swedish sculptors. In the 1970s Hemberg began to achieve fame and acceptance in the art community, primarily through her sculptures, and she created a number of notable commissions for permanent public display, including: 'The Orb' for the National Archives of Sweden, 'Badande', displayed at the Museum of Sketches for Public Art in Lund, 'The Butterfly', displayed in Rålambshovsparken in Stockholm, 'Solkrets', displayed at Viktoria place in Skellefteå, and 'Three Leaves', displayed at Norrköping's Museum of Art. Hemberg's sculptures were often large architectural pieces in wood, glass, metal, or concrete. Her work was heavily influenced by Jay Hambridge, and thus often featured elements of dynamic symmetry, as well as three dimensional aspects. Today, many of her works are on display in Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm, The Museum of Art in Kalmar, as well as Skövde Art Gallery, among other galleries, museums, and permanent public displays.
