Arne Jacobsen

Key facts

Lived

1902–1971, Danish^[1]

Works held in

1 museum

Wikipedia

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• What is Arne Jacobsen known for?+

  Arne Jacobsen is known for his architecture and industrial designs, such as the Series 7 chair, produced for Fritz Hansen in 1955^[1]. He is also recognised for designing the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, St Catherine's College Oxford, and the VOLA tap fittings.
• What is Arne Jacobsen's most famous work?+

  Arne Jacobsen (1902^[1]-1971^[1]) was a Danish^[1] architect and designer. He is celebrated for his contribution to architectural functionalism and for simple, but effective, chair designs. While he designed many notable buildings, such as St Catherine's College, Oxford (1962^[1]-1964^[1]), he is perhaps best known for his chairs. These include the Ant Chair (1955), the Series 7 Chair (1955), the Egg Chair (1958), and the Swan Chair (1958). Jacobsen originally designed the Egg and Swan chairs for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. Both are characterised by their organic shapes and use of synthetic materials. The Series 7 chair, also known as the 3107, is a plywood chair. It is an updated version of the Ant chair, and is arguably Jacobsen's most commercially successful design. Its mass-produced form made it accessible and popular.
• What should I know about Arne Jacobsen's prints?+

  Arne Jacobsen (1902^[1]-1971^[1]) was a Danish^[1] architect and designer. Although best known for his furniture, he also produced drawings and botanical watercolours. Jacobsen studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 1927^[1]. His early architectural work included the Bellavista housing estate (1934) north of Copenhagen, and Århus City Hall (1937-1941^[1]), designed with Erik Møller. After World War II, he designed a range of buildings, from the SAS Royal Hotel (1960) in Copenhagen to the National Bank of Denmark (1971). His furniture designs include the Ant Chair (1955), the Egg Chair (1958), and the Swan Chair (1958), all of which remain popular. These pieces often feature organic shapes and a minimalist aesthetic. Less well known are Jacobsen's prints. These consist mainly of detailed botanical studies. These watercolours display his draughtsmanship and eye for detail. They are often printed as giclée reproductions. Jacobsen's botanical art shares some aesthetic qualities with his furniture: a clarity of line and form, combined with an appreciation for natural shapes.
• What style or movement did Arne Jacobsen belong to?+

  Arne Jacobsen was a proponent of modernism, specifically within architecture and industrial design. In the 1930s, Scandinavian countries saw the introduction of "functionalist" architecture. Jacobsen's work aligned with this movement, which emphasised clean lines and functionality. After World War II, a renewed interest in international contacts influenced artists like Jacobsen. His designs often merged functionalist tenets with biomorphic forms, seen in the work of sculptors such as Jean Arp and Henry Moore. This sculptural influence was particularly evident in furniture design, with curved wooden and glass forms. While Jacobsen was part of the broader modernist movement, his designs also reflected a Scandinavian sensibility, which valued simplicity, natural materials, and a close relationship with the environment.
• What techniques or materials did Arne Jacobsen use?+

  Arne Jacobsen's artistic techniques encompassed a range of approaches, from graphic caricature to exploration of materials. In the late 1930s, Jacobsen employed a graphic line to create caricature images, which some critics found satirical. He also experimented with motifs and compositions inspired by artists such as Kandinsky and De Stijl. These sketches, created with a ruler and compass in India ink, explored planes, basic forms, and the tensions between straight and curved lines. Jacobsen also adopted techniques such as collage, frottage, and colour spraying. He used collage for illustrations in Jens August Schade's book *The Stolen Chest of Drawers*. In his drawings, Jacobsen dissolved shapes using an overlay technique, rather than evoking clashes between them. Later, Jacobsen moved from oil paint to acrylic paints, which promote flatness and colour contrast.
• What was Arne Jacobsen known for?+

  Asger Jorn (born Asger Oluf Jørgensen) was a Danish^[1] artist involved with several important art movements in the mid-20th century. He was born in Vejrum, Jutland, in 1914^[1] and died in Aarhus in 1973. Jorn studied at Léger's Académie Contemporaine in Paris in 1936. During the Second World War, he remained in Denmark. He painted canvases influenced by Ensor, Kandinsky, Klee, and Miró and contributed to the magazine Helhesten. In 1948, Jorn co-founded the COBRA movement (Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam) with Appel, Constant, Corneille, Dotremont, and Noiret. The group advocated complete freedom of expression, emphasising colour and brushwork. Jorn edited the Bibliotheque Cobra monographs, but later left the movement. After a period of illness, Jorn returned to Silkeborg, Denmark, in 1951 and began working with ceramics in 1953. Later, he settled in Albisola, Italy, and participated in the Mouvement International pour un Bauhaus Imaginiste, a continuation of COBRA. Jorn's artistic output included painting, collage, book illustration, prints, drawings, ceramics, murals, and sculpture. He was also involved in the Situationist International movement from 1957 to 1961 and studied early Scandinavian art.
• When did Arne Jacobsen live and work?+

  Arne Jacobsen (1902^[1]-1971^[1]) was a Danish^[1] architect and designer. He is remembered for his contribution to architectural Functionalism, as well as his simple but effective chair designs. Jacobsen was born in Copenhagen, and he studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1924^[1] to 1927. In 1930, he established his own architectural practice. His early work included the Bellavista housing estate (1934) north of Copenhagen, and the Århus City Hall (1937-1942^[1]), which he designed in partnership with Erik Møller. During the Second World War, Jacobsen, who was Jewish, fled to neutral Sweden. He returned to Denmark after the war, and he capitalised on the post-war building boom. His later architectural projects include the SAS Royal Hotel (1958-1960) in Copenhagen. He designed every element of the hotel, from the structure to the furniture. Jacobsen also designed furniture, lighting, textiles, and ceramics. His most famous furniture designs are the Ant Chair (1952), the Series 7 Chair (1955), the Egg Chair (1958), and the Swan Chair (1958). These chairs are characterised by their simple, organic forms, and they remain popular today.
• Where can I see Arne Jacobsen's work?+

  Arne Jacobsen's work can be viewed in museums around the world. In Denmark, his designs are held by the Aarhus Kunstmuseum; Fyns Stifts Kunstmuseum (Fyn County Museum of Fine Arts), in Odense; and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, in Humlebaek. Other European museums with his works include the Arkiv for Dekorativ Konst, Lund, Sweden; Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo; Nationalmuseum, Stockholm; Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna; Kunstmuseum Bern; Kunstmuseum Luzern; Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund; and the Henie-Onstad Art Center, Hovikodden, Norway. In Germany, Jacobsen's pieces can be seen at the Bauhaus Archive Design Museum, Berlin; the Bröhan-Museum (State Museum for Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Functionalism), Berlin; the Kunstgewerbe Museum of Decorative Arts, Berlin; the Museum beim Markt (Badisches Landesmuseum), Karlsruhe; and the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg. In the United States, notable collections are held by the Art Institute of Chicago; the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Cincinnati Art Museum; the Cleveland Museum of Art; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Winter Park, Florida; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
• Where was Arne Jacobsen from?+

  Arne Jacobsen was Danish^[1]. He was born in Copenhagen in 1902^[1], and he died there in 1971^[1]. Jacobsen is remembered as an architect and designer. He combined architectural practice with product design, such as furniture and homewares. He is associated with the international modern movement, but he also had his own distinct aesthetic. Many of his best-known buildings are in Denmark. These include the Bellavista housing estate (1934^[1]) north of Copenhagen, and the Aarhus City Hall (1937-42), which he designed with Erik Møller. Other important architectural projects include St Catherine's College, Oxford (1962-64), and the Danish National Bank in Copenhagen (1961-71). Jacobsen's furniture designs are also well known. The Ant chair (1955), the Egg chair (1958), and the Swan chair (1958) are still in production. These designs were originally created for specific architectural projects, but they became popular on their own.
• Who did Arne Jacobsen influence?+

  Arne Jacobsen's influence is complex. In the 1930s, Jacobsen was part of a young Danish^[1] art scene that looked to Paris and the Bauhaus movement. They found inspiration in artists such as Kandinsky, Klee, Mondrian, and the Russian avant-garde. This group, known as Linien (The Line), played a role in the Danish resistance during the war. After 1945^[1], they renewed international contacts. Robert Jacobsen and Richard Mortensen, two important members, moved to Paris. Parallel to this abstract movement was the COBRA group, led by Asger Jorn. The avant-garde activities of the 1960s and 1970s, including Fluxus, also left traces. Contacts with German art, particularly with Beuys, influenced young Danish artists such as Bjørn Nørgaard and Per Kirkeby. However, some argue that the success of the abstract movement and COBRA has overshadowed later developments in Danish art.
• Who influenced Arne Jacobsen?+

  Arne Jacobsen's artistic development occurred in a milieu influenced by several modern movements. In the 1930s, young Danish^[1] artists mounted exhibitions in Copenhagen that presented modern European art to a Danish audience. These included works by Kandinsky, Mondrian, Klee, Arp, Dali, Tanguy, Ernst and Miro. The exhibitions merged Cubism and Surrealism, treating them as parallel movements. The younger generation in Denmark saw no need to choose between the schools of the 1920s. Kandinsky's abstract works, Tanguy's unreal beaches, Giacometti's figures and Miro's signs were all equally appealing. The group Linien, which included Richard Mortensen, Ejler Bille, Carl-Henning Pedersen, Egill Jacobsen and Sonja Ferlov Mancoba, also included the young Asger Jorn. Jorn, who would later be a prime mover in the COBRA group, was influenced by Leger and Le Corbusier.
• Who was Arne Jacobsen?+

  Asger Jorn (born Asger Oluf Jørgensen on 3 March 1914^[1]) was a Danish^[1] painter, sculptor, ceramicist, and author. He was born in Vejrum, Jutland, Denmark. In 1929, after his father's death, his family relocated to Silkeborg; Jorn regarded this as his hometown. He studied under Fernand Leger in Paris in 1936-37 and contributed to Le Corbusier's Pavilion des Temps Nouveaux at the World's Fair in Paris in 1937. During the Second World War, Jorn remained in Denmark, where he produced paintings influenced by artists such as Ensor, Kandinsky, Klee, and Miro. He also contributed to the magazine *Helhesten*. In 1945, he changed his surname to Jorn. In 1948, Jorn had his first solo exhibition in Paris. Around the same time, he co-founded the COBRA movement (Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam) with other artists, including Appel, Constant, and Corneille. The group advocated complete freedom of expression, with an emphasis on colour and brushwork. Jorn died on 1 May 1973 in Aarhus, Denmark.