ORREFORS
Carl Hernmarck [Editor]
Carl Hernmarck [Editor]: ORREFORS. Stockholm: AB Orrefors Glasbruk. Original edition. Text in French and English. Slim square quarto. Thick printed and stapled wrappers. 24 pp. Color and black and white photographs by John Selbing and drawings by Birger Lundquist. Undated 8-panel Orrefors brochure in Danish laid in. Wrappers spotted and toned to edges. Textblock thumbed. A very good copy.
8 x 8.5 stapled softcover catalog with 24 pages of color and black and white photography spotlighting the work of Edward Hald, Nils Landberg, Sven Palmquist, Ingeborg Lundin, and Edvin Öhrström. Text by Carl Hernmarck, the Director of the National Museum, Stockholm. A beautifully designed and printed catalog.
From the Orrefors website: “Handblown glass has thus been produced in Sweden for more than two and a half centuries. As early as 1726, Lars Johan Silversparre received permission to build a furnace and a smithy at "the beautiful river that flows into Lake Orrenas". The iron works was given the name Orrefors, which means "the Orre waterfall.”
“Production at Orrefors did not become significant until the 1910s, when Johan Ekman of Gothenburg, who had highly ambitious production plans and had realized the importance of design, acquired the glassworks. A number of proficient glass artisans were recruited. Ekman wanted to place production on a more artistic basis, and in 1916 he, therefore, engaged the services of Simon Gate, the portrait and landscape painter. The artist Edward Hald arrived in the following year. This laid the foundation for a vital tradition of Orrefors, in the form of close cooperation between skilled glassblowers and gifted designers.
“In view of the artistic background of both Gate and Hald, it is not surprising that their individual styles flourished in art glass, not household glass. Gate's more classical designs differed greatly from Hald's modern, freer creations. Hald had also studied with Matisse, the famous French artist, and this is reflected in his glass.
“Orrefors' international breakthrough came at the Paris Exhibition of 1925. From the Hotel de Ville, the Town Hall of Paris, the Swedish pavilion borrowed a magnificent glass goblet designed by Simon Gate that had been presented as a gift to the City of Paris from the City of Stockholm in 1922. The goblet became a sensation, and the prestigious Grand Prix award was given to Orrefors and its designers. The glassblowers and engravers received gold medals. Many of the imposing glas objects from Orrefors were created for special occasions, or to special order. The motifs in the engraved glass of that period may seem somewhat grandiloquent today, but the technique was consummately realized through skilled craftsmanship and the light, clear quality of the glass.
“Success led to the arrival of new designers. The graphic artist Vicke Lindstrand came to Orrefors in 1928, and designed glass that was painted or engraved. Nils Landberg and Sven Palmqvist came at the end of the 1920's as engravers, apprentices, and after service as assistants to Simon Gate and Edward Hald became full-fledged glass artists during the 1930's. The sculptor Edvin Ohrstrom joined Orrefors in 1936.
“Intensive experimentation and a continuous search for new means of expression generated results. Orrefors participated in the New York World Fair in 1939 and launched the concept of Swedish Modern. The exhibition was a major success for modern Orrefors glass -- colorful, vigorous and exotic. In 1947, Ingeborg Lundin became the first woman designer at Orrefors. She gave a new dynamic aspect to engraved glass. Nils Landberg's "Tylip Glass" and Ingeborg Lundin's "Apple" illustrate the graceful, daring glass of the 1950's which together with Palmqvist's centrifuged bowls created a worldwide stir. Gunnar Cyren, a silver and goldsmith, came to Orrefors in 1959 and responded to the trends of the 1960s with such works as Pop Glass.
“Simon Gate and Edward Hald created the first modern art glass, and initiated an era that lives on to this day. This is particularly evident when today's designers apply the techniques introduced by Gates and Hald in the 1910's and 1920's. In addition, many of their productions are now living classics, partly because the truly beautiful always survives, but also because techniques based on skill and experience never become outdated. It is unlikely that anyone seeing Edward Hald's "Girls Playing Ball", inspired by Matisse, would be likely to draw the conclusion that it was created more than 70 years ago.”