Artist of the Day, March 19, 2021: Arne Jacobsen, a Danish architect and product designer (#1235)

 Arne Jacobsen (1902–1971) was a Danish architect and designer, well known for his contributions to the Functionalist movement. Born in Copenhagen, Jacobsen attended the School of Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. While in school, Jacobsen submitted a chair design to the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, and was awarded a silver medal. Among his early influences were Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Walter Gropius.

After briefly working in the architecture firm of Poul Holsøe, Jacobsen, in collaboration with fellow architect Flemming Lassen, won the House of the Future award from the Danish Architect’s Association. This success enabled him to open his own practice in 1929. Over the next several years, Jacobsen created numerous structures in the International Modern Style, and subscribed to the idea of "total design," creating everything from the furniture and fittings to the uniforms of the building’s employees.

During World War II, Jacobsen was forced to flee to Sweden, where he spent a majority of his time designing wallpaper and textiles. In 1945, he returned to Denmark, and resumed his architectural pursuits, which included The Number Seven Chair and The Ant, launching his reputation as a world-renowned furniture designer. In 1956, he received his most prestigious commission, the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, for which he created everything down to the smallest detail, including ashtrays, lighting, and cutlery. In addition, he produced the Egg and Swan chairs, acclaimed for their organic, sculptural qualities. Also in 1956, he accepted a position as a professor of architecture at the Skolen for Brugskunst.

In the 1960s, Jacobsen increasingly turned to forms such as the circle, cylinder, triangle, and cube, always with an eye toward proportion.

Today, in addition to his many architectural works, which can be seen throughout Copenhagen, his pieces can be found in numerous international collections, including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Design Museum in London, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

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 Mr. Arne Jacobsen

 

City Hall wall clock, 1956

The Banker’s Clock

Table clocks

AJ Wall lamp

Cylinda Line, stainless steel coffee-pot, 1967

Cylinda Line, stainless steel barware, 1967

 Cylinda line classic

Arne Jacobsen cutlery set,
Originally designed for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen 1957

Swanchair 3320, Textile

Swan Sofa, 3321, 2-seater

Swan Chair, 3320, Textile

c Series 3300 chair, Textile

Series 3300, 3302, Textile

Series 7 chair, 3107 Lacquered veneer

Series 7 chair  3207, Fully upholstered, Leather

Pot Lounge Chair 1959

Oxford Premiumchair, 3271P, Textile

Oxford Classic chair, 3271C leather

Lily chair, 3208 clear lacquer

Lily chair

Lily chair, 50th Anniversary

Grand Prix 4130, Clear lacquer

Egg chair, 3316 Leather

Egg chair Series

Dot series, Stool

Ant chair, 3101 Lacquered veneer

The buildings in Klampenborg

St. Catherine's College Oxford, United Kingdom

Skovshoved petrol station 1936

 National bank of Denmark, interior with swan chair, 1965-71

Munkegaard School Gentofte, Denmark

HEW (heute Vattenfall) City Nord, Hamburg, 1963-69

Christianeum, Grammar School Hamburg Hamburg, Germany

Bellevue Teatret, Copenhagen, 1936