Poul Kjærholm

This summer’s big exhibition at Louisiana is about the Danish furniture architect Poul Kjærholm (1929-1980), one of the most important figures in twentieth-century design. The exhibition is the first retrospective presentation of Kjærholm’s work as a furniture and exhibition architect and continues the series that began with Louisiana’s earlier exhibitions of the two great Danish architects Arne Jacobsen (2001) and Jørn Utzon (2004).

The exhibition Poul Kjærholm at Louisiana is a unique opportunity to experience the full scope of the furniture artist’s format and to explore the processes behind the concept development and design ideas that formed the basis for one of the most beautiful and seductive design oeuvres of the twentieth century. It is organized in tableaux which highlight his most important, enduring designs and offers a panoramic overview of Kjærholm’s whole oeuvre by exploring and shedding light on the sources of inspiration and tendencies in artistic development and working processes that Kjærholm was able to combine in his unique oeuvre. The exhibition will show examples ranging from his early experiments in laminated wood and aluminium through his masterpieces in steel and leather to the most recent works where he returned to the woodwork of his younger days. All his furniture designs, rare prototypes and models from private collections as well as a wide selection of photos, original sketches and drawings will be presented.

Poul Kjærholm was born in 1929. Apprenticed to a cabinetmaker at the age of 15, he learned the craft traditions of woodwork. He finished his apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker in 1948, after which he graduated from the Danish School of Arts and Crafts, where he had studied with the designer Hans J. Wegner, in 1952. Kjærholm’s graduation piece from the school was the PK 25 lounge chair – his first masterwork combining steel with an organic approach to form, and this formed the basis for his other masterworks of the 1950s and 1960s. After several years of experiments Kjærholm joined forces with the draper E. Kold Christensen in 1955 and established the firm that was to produce and market Kjærholm’s new designs. For the next 25 years Kjærholm produced a succession of pieces that combined modern materials with the highest standards of craftsmanship and a profoundly personal approach to detail and surfaces. Many of these pieces, including the PK 22 lounge chair, the PK 9 dining room chairs and the PK 54 dining table, are still in production.

Kjærholm’s teachers included the Danish furniture designer Hans J. Wegner and the architect Jørn Utzon. Later he was inspired by the new industrial materials used by the American designers Charles and Ray Eames and the German architect Mies van der Rohe. Kjærholm constantly remained in the force field between aesthetic reflection and technical industrial potential, which he combined with geometrical abstraction and ergonomic form in a timeless, exclusive and unique design that still keeps his furniture among the most coveted and admired items on the market – 40 to 50 years after their creation. Many of them have iconic status, and to this day several of them are produced and sold by the Danish firm Fritz Hansen to both the older and the younger generation all over the world. In 2004 Kjærholm’s furniture was chosen to furnish the newly-built Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, which underscores the pioneering status of the works in modern design.

In the years 1954-75 Kjærholm also worked as an exhibition architect and these exhibition designs – long since forgotten – will be shown in detail with original drawings and architectural photos a well as partial reconstructions and a number of recently released architectural models.

The exhibition has been created as a collaboration between the American architect and expert on Danish architecture Michael Sheridan and Louisiana. Further information about the exhibition can be obtained either from Michael Sheridan (e-mail: m@sheridan.com), the curator Kjeld Kjeldsen (e-mail: kk@louisiana.dk) or the undersigned.

Pressetext

Poul Kjærholm
Poul Kjaerholm
Zusammenarbeit: Michael Sheridan und Louisiana
Kurator: Kjeld Kjeldsen