EN LINJE I DANSK BRUKSKONST
Kurt Karlsson [Introduction]
Kurt Karlsson [Introduction]: EN LINJE I DANSK BRUKSKONST. Malmö: Malmö Museum, 1971. First edition. Text in Swedish. Slim quarto. Printed thick wrappers. 62 pp. Essays, checklist and black and white black and white photographs. Checklist with a few pencil annotations. Wrappers lightly worn and sunned, otherwise a nearly fine copy.
5.5 x 8.25 softcover catalog with 62 pages illustrated with black and white photographs. Exhibition catalog published in conjunction with a 1971 exhibition at the Malmö Museum in Malmö, Sweden.
- Introduction by Kurt Karlsson
- En linje i dansk brukskonst by Hans Edestrand
- En linie I dansk brugskunst by Anre Karlson
- Katalog over udstillingen: møbler, billedrammer med møbler, tekstiler, billedrammer med tekstiler, lamper, billedrammer med lamper, anden brugskunst, billedrammer med bygningskunst, anvendt grafik m.v.
Includes work by Kaare Klint, Grethe Meyer and Børge Mogensen, Mogens Koch, E. Zeuthen Nielsen and Arne Karlsen, Lis Ahlman, Børge Mogensen, Arne Karlsen, Gerturd Vasegaard, Rigmor Andersen and Annelise Bjørner, Grethe Meyer and Ib Trier Mørch, Kim Naver, Ole Wanscher, Vibeke Klint, Le Klint, Grethe Meyer, Annelise Bjørner, and Vilhelm Wohlert among others.
In 1954 the four Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland arranged what proved to be the most important marketing effort ever for Scandinavian design—the monumental exhibition Design in Scandinavia. From 1954 to 1957 Design in Scandinavia toured the United States and Canada. The exhibition was presented in 27 cities, and it was a huge success, initiated by The Danish Society of Arts and Crafts and its sister organizations in the other participating countries.
Based on the success the four countries established what they called the Scandinavian Design Cavalcade, which had a lot of US press coverage as well. In that connection the July 1959 issue of House Beautiful was centered around The Scandinavian Look in U.S. Homes, and it was Denmark and Danish Design in particular that the magazine focussed on. Besides the editorial pages, the numerous ads illustrates that Danish modern furniture was increasingly gaining a stronghold among certain groups of American consumers.
Importers and retail chains like John Stuart Inc., George Tanier, Raynor and Dunbar etc. now sold Danish modern furniture in the US, and by now it was not only hand crafted furniture from the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers’ Guild Exhibitions but also pieces from industrial furniture producers like Fritz Hansen, Søborg Møbelfabrik, Fredericia Furniture and many others. From the end of the 1950s Danish Department stores and other retailers produced comprehensive brochures and booklets in English with prices in US Dollars presenting Danish Design to American and other tourists.
Without exception, these stores all presented the narrative of Danish modern. “Denmark is known all over the world for its exquisite home furnishing, which are characterized by their outstanding design and superb craftsmanship” the department store Magasin claimed in its brochure “Danish Design.”