UTILITARIAN: Jacobsen's aims was to meld form with function in his works, such as the Ant chair
UNITED KINGDOM SUMMER PEARLS: London's architectural gems along the banks of the Thames
MUSIC: Europe's best pop and rock gatherings
BAGPIPES: The plaintive sounds of Scotland
SUBMARIUM: Journey to the bottom of the sea FESTIVALS: Fun in the sun in West Belfast
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FRANCE and SWITZERLAND VULCANIA: Blow your top at France's volcano park
ART: Berthe Morisot, the unknown Impressionist
FESTIVALS: Aix-en-Provence has it all
ART: The Barbizon School painters come to life
ART: Take a stroll through medieval gardens of delight
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SPAIN, PORTUGAL, ITALY and GREECE SALAMANCA: The city splashes out on culture
MUSIC: God's rock stars: the singing Greek monks
FOOD: Italy's unusual culinary delights
FILM: Great outdoor viewing in Rome
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GERMANY and BENELUX HORTICULTURE: The world blossoms at Floriade
BRUGGE: Belgium's second city shines
ART: Berlin's homage to multiculturalism ART: The best of the world's artists on show at Documenta 11
DANCE: Czech twin ballerinos steal the show in Hamburg MORE ..
CENTRAL and EASTERN EUROPE ART: Yugoslavia's modern art museum is back
ART: A retrospective of Samizdat art and writing from the Communist bloc
GRAZ: Austria's little-known city of culture
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THE NORDIC REGION DESIGN: Denmark celebrates Arne Jacobsen
MUSEUM: Get a blast from the past at Stalin World
STOCKHOLM: Welcome to the Venice of the North
MUSIC: Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes on tour MORE ..
PLUS LISTINGS: Other things to see and do in each region
A century after his birth, Denmark celebrates the work of a favorite son and famed designer
Arne Jacobsen's fingerprints are all over Denmark. He may be best known for his chairs — the Ant, the Swan, the Model 3107. But he also created myriad other things, from cutlery to gardens. Most notably in his homeland, he designed buildings, including offices, homes and schools, applying the same rigorous standards of beauty and practicality to his big projects as he did to the small ones. Jacobsen's work — in all shapes and sizes — is in the spotlight this year, the centenary of his birth. Stores still stock many of the household goods he designed. Two major museums are putting on retrospectives to celebrate the prolific artist, who died in 1971. And you can still visit the buildings he created in towns across the country. There has never been a better time to visit the designer's Denmark.
The best place to start is by the sea. In 1930, Jacobsen won
the commission to design the Bellevue complex in Klampenborg,
north of Copenhagen. One of his first major projects, this seaside
getaway remains one of the few places where visitors can be
immersed in a world of clean-lined, minimalist Jacobsen. "It
is characteristic of him that he managed it all: landscaping,
architecture, furniture and applied arts," says Kjeld Vindum,
co-author of a new monograph called Arne Jacobsen: Architect
and Designer. The apartments overlooking the waters of the Øresund,
the open-air theater with its retractable roof, the refreshment
kiosks on the beach, a restaurant (now called Jacobsen), even
the restaurant's plates and cutlery — all are "exhibits"
in a living gallery. That's the way Jacobsen would have wanted
it, because the function of a work was as important to him as
its aesthetic appeal. He saw each project as a Gesamtkunstwerk,
a total work of art. That sounds affected — he admitted
as much himself — but the big word just expresses a simple
concept: obsession. "I am a bit obsessive about my work," he
said. "Architecture tends to consume everything else." If his
buildings were total works of art, then creating them was Jacobsen's
total way of life.
Even perfectionism couldn't protect him from some critics. When
his SAS Royal Hotel was completed in 1960, fellow Danish architect
Svend Erik Møller dubbed it a "glass cigar box," while
American architect Philip Johnson reportedly declared it the
worst European imitation of New York's famed Lever Building.
Jacobsen acknowledged the detractors in his usual droll manner:
"At least it came in first," he said, "when they held a competition
for the ugliest building in Copenhagen."
The hotel remains one of his best-known and most accessible constructions. The building was once all Jacobsen, and despite renovations that have dismayed purists, his contributions are evident inside and out, from the exterior's shiny glass skin to the curvaceous Swan chairs in the lobby. One room, 606, has even been preserved with its original features and furnishings, out of respect for the detail freak himself.
The year's two big retrospectives offer a more concentrated look at Jacobsen's work. "Evergreens and Nevergreens" is on at Copenhagen's Danish Design Center until June 2. It includes both the classics, such as the Ant chair, and the flops, including a cylindrical brass ashtray that was a beauty to behold but failed the test of practicality because it was too fragile to mass-produce.
The second and much larger exhibition opens at the Louisiana
Museum of Modern Art in Humblebęk on Aug. 30. One of the museum's
goals is to give visitors a comprehensive view of Jacobsen's
comprehensive views. So the show includes not only his architectural
work and furniture designs but also blueprints for gardens ("I
shall end up an old gardener," he once said), textiles, wallpapers
and watercolors. He "was preoccupied with the design of things
that we surround ourselves with in our everyday life," says
Kjeld Kjeldsen, one of the curators. "He expressed himself as
a painter, an architect, a gardener, a craftsman and a designer."
And he proved himself a Jacobsen of all artistic trades.
Arne Jacobsen at the Louisiana Museum • Opens:Aug.
30 • Tickets:adults €9, children
under 16 €3 • Phone: +45 (0)4919 0719
• Website:www.louisiana.dk
