Danish design from the 1930s

Danish design really had its heyday in the period from 1949–1960, known as “Danish Modern”. At the last auction of the year at Bredgade, we go even further back in time to the 1930s with a number of rare and important pieces of furniture, united by their common dedication to craftsmanship and a soft, almost naïve, mode of expression. These include Flemming Lassen’s iconic upholstered easy chair “Den trætte mand” (the tired man) and its predecessor “Husaren” (the hussar) from 1935 and may be said to fall in the field of tension between international modernism and Nordic humanism. This trend stems from the Stockholm Exhibition in 1930, which influenced a whole generation of architects. Many of the pieces up for auction are unique pieces, while others are making their auction debut.  

New inspiration from abroad

To really understand what this early modern Danish design is all about, it must be seen in a bigger perspective. The Danish architects welcomed the new trends emerging in Europe in the aftermath of the First World War.  The experience of war manifested itself in a desire to reform society and create a better life. The slate was wiped clean, and the European architects developed innovative urban planning, housing and furniture commensurate with modern life. Traditional materials, craftsmanship and decoration were rejected in favour of industrial, mass-produced materials such as steel, glass and concrete.  Under the lead of Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and the Bauhaus school, “Form follows function” and “Less is more” became the guiding principles, leading to what became known as international modernism.

Danish interpretation of modernism

In Denmark, these radical ideas were rarely expressed in their purest form. There was broad consensus among the Danish architects that the focus on form, function and new materials should not be at the expense of people and good craftsmanship. With their soft, far more people-friendly expression, the pieces from the 1930s up for auction are some of the first attempts at a Danish interpretation of international modernism. Relatively little has been written about this furniture, but its importance to Danish furniture design can hardly be overestimated. Architect Finn Juhl realised this back in 1949, when, in a lecture, he said:

“In all the articles I have read in recent years about Danish furniture design, there has been an omission. I am referring to the period [Editor’s note: the 1930s] when every Cabinetmakers’ Guild exhibition showcased experimental and amusing attempts to create new forms of upholstered furniture. If you think back over these years, you will realise that this was where we saw the last attempts to create something new in a contemporary mode of expression within furniture design – en masse. It was not just one designer, it was the whole gang: Flemming Lassen, Viggo Boesen, Kindt-Larsen, Hans Christian Hansen and Viggo S. Jørgensen, Magnus Stephensen, Poul Gøtsche and Arne Jacobsen...”

Finn Juhl considered the upholstered furniture of the 1930s as a lush, vibrant and more contemporary sculptural direction which could ensure that the strict sense of craftsmanship, function and objectivity founded by Kaare Klint’s furniture school in the 1920s did not stiffen and become locked in a mode of expression based on classic English furniture design.

True to form, the auction also features famous Danish furniture classics, including Frits Henningsen’s winged chair, Finn Juhl’s “Chieftain Chair” and the charming “Little Petra” by Viggo Boesen.

Auction: Thursday 5 December at 4 pm at Bredgade 33, Copenhagen
Preview: 21-25 November at the same address

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