ARNE JACOBSEN OPERA COMPLETA 1909 – 1971
Luciano Rubino
Luciano Rubino: ARNE JACOBSEN OPERA COMPLETA 1909 – 1971. Rome: Edizioni Kappa, April 1980. First edition. Text in Italian. Quarto. Photo illustrated thick paper wrappers. 151 pp. 264 black and white photographs and plans. Interior unmarked and clean. Out-of-print. Two vintage price stickers to rear panel. Endpapers lightly foxed, but a very good or better copy.
8.5 x 9.5 softcover book with 151 pages fully illustrated with 264 black and white photographs and plans showcasing Arne Jacobsen’s architecture and industrial design up to 1971, 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 Jacobsen’s work, 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); Glostrup Town Hall, (1958); Munkegaard School (1957); SAS Royal Hotel, Copenhagen (1958–60); Toms Chocolate Factory (1961); National Bank of Denmark (1965–70); Landskrona Sports-Hall (1965); St Catherine's College, Oxford, UK (1964–66); Mainz City Hall (1966–73); Castrop-Rauxel Town Hall and Forum (1966–76); and others.
Also included: the Paris Lounge Chair (1929); Charlottenborg Lounge Chair / A.J 237 (1936); Charlottenborg Sofa and Charlottenborg Coffee Table (1937); Ant chair (1952); Dot Stool Model 3170 (1954); Tongue chair (1955); Series 7 chairs; Swan chair (1958); Egg chair (1958); Pot chair (1959); Giraffe chair (1959); Cylinda Line tableware; Flatware cutlery (1957); VOLA (1968); Dot Stool Model M3170 (1969); and the Drop chair.
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.