ARNE JACOBSEN
Carsten Thau and Kjeld Vindum
Carsten Thau and Kjeld Vindum [foreword] and Marie-Louise Jensen, Michael Sheridan, Ole Høstbo, and Maria Wettergren [section introductions]: ARNE JACOBSEN. København, Denmark: Dansk Møbelkunst, 2002. First edition. A very good soft cover book with thick printed wrappers and minor shelf wear including slight rubbing, discoloration, and a small stain on the back cover. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print.
9.5 x 11 soft cover book with 96 pages and 74 color illustrations of Jacobsen's furniture designs from 1929–1971. There are fours sections, each covering a set time period and introduced by a short essay.
"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
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.
From the Danish Design store's website: Arne Jacobsen is one of the grandfathers of modern Danish furniture and the minimalist Danish style. While Arne Jacobsen (1902–1971) was also a successful architect, he is best remembered for his simple, yet elegant and functional chair designs.
The cooperation between Arne Jacobsen and Fritz Hansen dates back to 1934. But it wasn't until 1952 that Jacobsen made a break-through: the Jacobsen Ant Chair. The Jacobsen Series 7 Chair quickly followed in 1955. This propelled Jacobsen and Fritz Hansen's names into furniture history.
At the end of the 50s Arne Jacobsen was the lead architect for the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, and designed the famous Egg Chair, the Swan Chair, the Swan Sofa and Series 3300 Chairs. Arne Jacobsen was and is an admired and outstanding designer. While the significance of Arne Jacobsen's buildings was less appreciated, his furniture and other design work have become national and international heritage.