ARKITEKTEN ARNE JACOBSEN
Johan Pedersen
Johan Pedersen: ARKITEKTEN ARNE JACOBSEN. København: Arkitektens Forlag, 1954. First edition. Text in Danish with parallel cutlines in English and a 3-page English summary bound in. Quarto. White paper covered boards decorated in red. Photo illustrated dust jacket. 119 pp. Fully illustrated with black and white photographs and plans. Faint edgewear to dust jacket. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print. The best copy out there: a fine copy in a nearly fine dust jacket.
8.5 x 11 hardcover book with 119 pages fully illustrated in black and white showcasing Arne Jacobsen’s architecture and industrial design up to 1957, including municipal buildings, town halls, theatres, private homes, apartment buildings, schools, factories, office buildings, and landscape design along with furniture design, and his decorative work including wallpaper, utensil, and textile design.
"The fundamental factor is proportion. Proportion is precisely what makes the old Greek temples beautiful . . . And when we look at some of the most admired buildings of the Renaissance or the Baroque, we notice that they are all well-proportioned. That is the essential thing." –Arne Jacobsen
Includes a full range of work executed prior to 1957, including Bellevue Beach, Klampenborg, Denmark (1932); Bellavista residential complex, Klampenborg, Copenhagen (1931–34); Bellevue Theatre and restaurant, Klampenborg (1935–36); Skovshoved Petrol Station, Skovshoved, Copenhagen (1936); Stelling House, 6 Gammeltorv, Copenhagen (1934–37); Søllerød Town Hall (with Flemming Lassen), Søllerød, Copenhagen (1938–42); Århus City Hall (with Erik Møller), Århus (1939–42); Søholm I (1946–50),[13] II[18] and III[19] terraced houses, Klampenborg; Rødovre Town Hall, Rødovre, Denmark (1952–56); Alléhusene housing, Gentofte, Copenhagen (1949–1953); and others.
Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971) began training as a mason before studying at the Royal Danish Academy of Arts, Copenhagen where he won a silver medal for a chair that was then exhibited at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Art Decoratifs in Paris. Influenced by Le Corbusier, Gunnar Asplund and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Jacobsen embraced a functionalist approach from the outset. He was among the first to introduce modernist ideas to Denmark and create industrial furniture that built upon on its craft-based design heritage.
First among Jacobsen's important architectural commissions was the Bellavista housing project, Copenhagen (1930-1934). Best known and most fully integrated works, are the SAS Air Terminal and the Royal Hotel Copenhagen for which Jacobsen designed every detail from sculptural furnishings such as his elegant Swan and Egg chairs (1957-1958) to textiles, lighting, ashtrays and cutlery.
During the 1960's, Jacobsen's most important work was a unified architectural and interior design scheme for St. Catherine's College, Oxford, which, like his earlier work for the Royal Hotel, involved the design of site-specific furniture. Jacobsen's work remains appealing and fresh today, combining free-form sculptural shapes with the traditional attributes of Scandinavian design, material and structural integrity.