KUNSTHAANDVÆRK OG BOLIG
Johs. Kjærbøl [introduction]
Aarhus: Aarhus-Hallen, 1938. Original edition. Text in Danish. 16mo. Perfect bound lithographed wrappers. 48 pp. Black and white halftones and full page advertisements throughout. Pencil notation inside front cover and penciled notes to blank space on page five. Remarkably well preserved exhibition catalogue: a nearly fine copy. Rare.
5.125 x 8-inch exhibition catalogue with 48 pages fully illustrated with black and white halftones and full page advertisements, published for the exhibition held at Aarhus-Hallen from April 8 – 18, 1938. “The National Exhibition of Handicrafts and Housing” was the first event held at Aarhus Hall—after its inauguration on April 1st, 1938—as the second largest hall in Denmark, with room for 5,000-6,000 people, surpassed only by the Forum in Copenhagen.
Features work and/or advertisements from Fritz Hansen, Georg Jensen, Knud Kyhn, A. F. Rasmussen, Mogens Leth & Egon Knudsen, Bing & Grøndahls Porcelænsfabrik, Frantz Hingleberg, A/S Michael Andersen & Søn, A. Michelsen, and others that I simply lack the patience to catalog. Sorry.
A fascinating relic that provides a snapshot of the Danish decorative arts during the Interwar years. The organizing committee was clearly “functional-curious” as seen with the cover design and publicity for this important national exhibit, with the furniture designers and architects leaning forward and the ceramicists in full retreat from the Modern movement. So it goes.