Mobilia no. 109
August 1964.
Svend Erik Møller, Gunnar Bratvold, Lena Larsson [Editors]
Svend Erik Møller, Gunnar Bratvold, Lena Larsson [Editors]: Mobilia no. 109. Snekkersten, Denmark: Mobilia, August 1964. Original edition. Text in Danish, English, German and French. Perfect bound and side stapled wrappers. Unpaginated. Multiple paper stocks. Fully illustrated articles in black and white and some color. Period furniture advertisements. Wrappers light worn but a very good or better copy.
10.25 x 10.18 magazine with articles and period furniture advertisements. The editors described their magazine thus: “Mobilia is an international subscription periodical for furniture, art, handicraft, etc. Mobilia is published in two issues, one of them in Danish and English, and the other one in Swedish and German, the text having been translated as a whole. Mobilia is issued to all members of Møbelfabrikantforeningen i Danmark [The Association of Danish Furniture manufacturers], of Møbelhandlernes Centralforening i Danmark [The Association of Furniture Dealers in Denmark], and of Indendørs Arkitekt Foreningen [The Association of Interior Architects]; in Sweden a collective subscription has been taken by Sveriges Möbelindustriförbund [The Association of Swedish Furniture Manufacturers]. “
This special issue celebrated the life of Poul Henningsen, one of Denmark's premier designers of interior lighting responsible for such iconic pieces as the 'Cone Chandelier' and the 'PH-Lamp'. He was also the editor of the magazine and this issue contains a selection of his best articles:
- Poul Henningsen: Svend Erik Møller
- Concerning a Shoehorn . . . Meditations: Poul Henningsen
- For Two People: Poul Henningsen
- What We Learn from Moral Indignation: Poul Henningsen
- Plötzensee Prison in Berlin: Poul Henningsen
- Six Questions: Poul Henningsen
- The Parallels ff Art: Poul Henningsen
- Send Up Your Sorrows: Poul Henningsen
- The High, the Low, the Stout, and the Slender Chair: Poul Henningsen
- Childhood Memories: Poul Henningsen
- Declaration of Love: Poul Henningsen
Includes advertising work by L. F. Foght, Marianne Lyager, Møbelfabrik A/S Kolds Savværk, Louis Poulsen & Co. A/S, Textura, Domus Danica, Magnus Olesen, Ligna, Slagelse Møbelværk A/S, Knud Færch, Ølholm Møbelfabrik, Skjøde Skjern Denmark, Th. Skjøde Knudsen, Kai Kristiansen, S. B. Feldballes Møbelfabrik, Peter Draschnar, Bogesunds, Sven Ellekær, A/S Albert Hansen, Brødr. Jørgensen, Gabriel Fredericia, Den Blaa Fabrik, Mogens Koch, Rud Rassmussen Snedkerier, Interna, P. Jeppersen, Ole Wanscher, Ingrid Dessau, Age Faith-Eli., Ingrid Ekenberg/Nils Gröndahl, Kerstin Hörlin-Holmquist, Boltinge Stolefabrik, Legendarisk Slidstyrke, and more.
Poul Henningsen (1894 – 1967) was a Danish author, architect and critic, and one of the leading figures of the cultural life of Denmark between the World Wars. In Denmark, he is often referred to as PH.
Poul Henningsen was the illegitimate son of author Agnes Henningsen and satirist Carl Ewald. He spent a happy childhood in a tolerant and modern home in Ordrup which was often visited by the leading literates. Between 1911 and 1917 he was educated as an architect at The Technical School at Frederiksberg and then at Technical College in Copenhagen, but he never graduated and tried himself as an inventor and painter.
His most valuable contribution to design was in the field of lighting. He designed the PH-lamp in 1925, which, like his later designs, used carefully analyzed reflecting and baffling of the light rays from the bulb to achieve glare-free and uniform illumination. His light fixtures were manufactured by Louis Poulsen. His best-known models are the PH Artichoke and PH5. The lamps created the economic foundation of his later work. Other notable designs include the PH Grand Piano which is included in several notable 20th-century design collections, including that of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. He also designed Glassalen for Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.
During the 1920s Poul Henningsen had his literary breakthrough. He edited the polemic left wing periodical Kritisk Revy (1926–1928, "Critical Review") in which he and his colleagues scorned old-fashioned style and cultural conservatism, linking these themes to politics. At the same time he began as a revue writer praising natural behaviour, sexual broad-mindedness and simple living. He was the man who made the Danish revues a political weapon of the left wing without giving up its character of entertainment (the so-called PH-revues 1929–32). 1933 he edited his most famous work Hvad med Kulturen? ("What About Culture?") a polemic, audacious and urgent criticism of Danish cultural life and its snobism and passion of the past in spite of all the efforts of the Modern Break-Through. He tried to make parallels between prudery, moralizing and fascist leanings and he also accused the Social Democrats of lacking a firm and consequent cultural line. This book together with his activities as a whole made him a reputation as a semi-communist "fellow traveller". In this period he in fact stood near the communists without joining them. He took part in the anti-fascist propaganda, always trying to connect culture and politics.
Among his other initiatives of this period was Danmarksfilmen 1935, (English: The Film of Denmark) also known as PH’s Danmarksfilm. It is an unpretentious and untraditional film portraying the life in contemporary Denmark in a lively and slightly disrespectful way in which the visuals are supported by jazz rhythms. It was condemned and torn apart by most critics but later on it has become rehabilitated as one of the classic Danish documentary films. He also wrote some movie manuscripts.
During World War II and the German Occupation of Denmark he kept a lower profile and fled to Sweden in 1943 but tried to keep the spirit going by camouflaged resistance poetry. After the war he dissociated himself from the communists who were criticizing him for flabbing humanitarianism in his attitude to the settlement with the Nazis and for his growing scepticism about the Soviet Union and in many ways he was isolated. However he kept writing and debating, and during the 1960s the new generation in many ways made him something of a guru. In his last years he became a member of the Danish Academy and supported the new movement of consumers.
In many ways Poul Henningsen is the man who completed the work of Georg Brandes. He is somewhat superficial and light but more modern and less elitist in his views. Being a tease and a provoker who often tried turning concepts upside down (like George Bernard Shaw) and whose conclusions might be both somewhat unjust and exaggerated, he was however a man of firm principles and ideals of a democratic, natural and tolerant society. [Wikipedia] 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, Raymor 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.”