November 10, 1927
The following list is made up to demonstrate the large number of useful and practical objects that are on view at the Danish Exhibition of Arts and Crafts at the Brooklyn Museum, and that would be of interest to the trade in which your publication specializes. The class of objects that would interest you have been checked in the list below. The Museum authorities hope that you will find it possible to come to see this exhibition or to send one of your staff. As you doubtless know, the Scandinavians are doing very interesting things in the field of applied arts. As representative a review of this movement as the showing at the Brooklyn Museum may never be available in this country again for years. The exhibition will remain open for five weeks after November 15th, that is, until December 19th, after which it will visit over a dozen of the largest cities in this country, including those of the Pacific coast.
The Brooklyn Museum is reached by the 7th Avenue Interborough subway, which stops at the station called "Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum". Connection with this line from the Lexington Avenue Interborough line can be made by getting off at Nevins street, Brooklyn and simply stepping across the platform and taking a 7th Avenue "New Lots Avenue" or "Flatbush Avenue" train. Connection can be made from the Brooklyn-Manhattan Line by changing at Borough Hall in Brooklyn.
[Handwritten note: This sheet to out-of-town Trade Publications]
The following list is made up to demonstrate the large number of useful and practical objects that are on view at the Danish Exhibition of Arts and Crafts at the Brooklyn Museum, and that would be of interest to the trade in which your publication specializes. The class of objects that we think would interest you have been checked in the list below. The Museum would be glad to co-operate with you in the matter of further information and photographs.
As you doubtless know, the Scandinavians are doing very interesting things in the field of applied arts. As representative a review of this movement as the showing at the Brooklyn Museum may never be available in this country again for years. The exhibition will remain open for five weeks after November 15th, that is, until December 19th, after which it will visit over a dozen of the largest cities in this country, including those of the Pacific Coast.
The comprehensive exhibition of Danish Applied Arts, Paintings and Sculpture that opened at the Brooklyn Museum of Art on November 15th is an interesting demonstration of how another of the Scandinavian countries has raised its decorative arts to a high level of artistic merit as well as fine hand and machine workmanship.
This has been accomplished by co-operation between manufacturers and men whose work in the fine arts has been outstanding. They have proved that if a manufacturer starts out with a good design he can turn out truly beautiful things in quantity just as easily as he can produce commonplace ones and at not at impossible prices. The result is these fine, useful objects readily find their way into homes all over Denmark to say nothing of foreign countries where the Danish work has become familiar.
In the Danish Exhibition of Arts and Crafts at the Brooklyn Museum
TEXTILES
Yard goods - for upholstery and hangings - in tones to harmonize with different kinds of woods
Hand-made close-woven heavy material of silk, wool and cotton with modern adaptations of old peasant motifs
Cotton hand-printed from blocks
Tapestry work
Hand weaving that looks like embroidery for: wall hangings, cushions, upholstery
Lace - known as Tonder lace - bobbin work - under the protection of the Queen of Denmark
Tea table set of cloth and napkins
Separate napkins
Center pieces
Doilies - large and small
Table doily sets
By the yard
Batiks
Wall hangings
Throws
Table covers
Handbags
Kimono with slippers and cap to match
Parasols
Shawls, with and without fringe
Pajamas
Handkerchiefs
Neckties - the whole set of which were purchased by the crown Prince of Denmark when they were first shown a short time ago.
SILVER AND GOLD
Trays
Bowls, with and without covers
Cups
Cigarette boxes
Cigar boxes
Cooktail shakers
Fruit baskets
Bonbonnieres
Desk sets
Lamps
Scent bottles
Hand mirrors
Flat silver
Candlesticks
Tea-pots
Inkstands
Jugs
After-dinner coffee set with creamer and sugar bowl
Complete ladies toilet set, including: comb, brush, powderbox, scent bottle, nail scissors, jewel box, comb tray, hand mirror, hair pin box, clothes brush, hat brush, shoe horn, button hook.
Small boxes mounted in silver and gold and with precious stones
BRONZE
Bowls
Bonbonnieres
Ash trays
Vases
Jars
Cigarette boxes
Paper cutters
Candlesticks
Candelabrum, 5 and 7 branch
Seals
PORCELAIN AND POTTERY
Figures
Vases
Fruit baskets
Complete dinner service
Powder boxes
Candy jars
Flower holders
Candelabrum
Candlesticks
Candy jars
Punch bowls
Ash trays
Ink stands
Needle trays
Needle boxes
Cigarette boxes
Book ends
Lamp bases
Jardinieres
Garden pottery
Umbrella stands
Salts and peppers
Sugar bowls
Pitchers
TERRA COTTA AND STONEWARE
Figures
Bowls
Jars
Vases
Candlesticks
Ash trays
CARVED HORN
Paper cutters
Book marks
Buttons
Salad sets
Salt spoons
Mustard spoons
GLASSWARE
Table glass
FURNITURE
Colt skin hall seat
Woman's mahogany chiffonier
Man's mahogany secretary
Set of 4 mahagany side chairs
Mahogany coffee table
Mahogany sewing table
Palisander man's desk and chair with inlay
Coin collectors cabinet of birch
Pale oak dining set including: table with gray marble top, sideboard with gray marble top, set of 12 chairs and sofa
TYPOGRAPHY, BOOK-BINDING AND BOOK DECORATION
ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 1927, 093-97. View Original
November 4, 1927
Remarks made by Capt. Poul U. Michelsen, Commissioner-General of the Danish Exhibition of Painting, Sculpture and Applied Arts, on American Scandinavian Club Night at the Hotel Plaza, November 4, 1927.
On behalf of the members of the commission of the Danish National Exhibition of paintings and Applied Art I have the honor of expressing our sincerest thanks to the New York Chapter of the American Scandinavian Foundation for the great honor which bas been conferred upon my friends and myself in inviting us here to-night.
I should like to say that we are very proud to be of the same nationality as the founder of your distinguished institution, the late Niels Poulsen, and it has been a great pleasure to learn about your activities and to meet your members during our stay here. This great and remarkable work which the American Scandinavian Foundation has accomplished in supporting all form of educational intercourse between United States and the Scandinavian countries is very well known in our country and, at my return, I shall be glad to tell the Danish Government about the great interest which you have shown our exhibition and the support which has made it possible to send over here some of the very best paintings of our country.
My friends and I congratulate you, Mr. President, and you, Madam Chairman of the Social Committee, as well as all your officers on the remarkable results you have already achieved during the 16 years since your society was founded: and I want to express our best wishes for continued successful efforts in drawing the American and Scandinavian peoples closer to each other in bonds of intellectual kinship and in working steadily for the strengthening of international friendship.
To give some idea of the versatility of the Danish artists and the way they are called in by manufacturers to design objects in fields that we in this country have thus far considered outside or their province, several instances are given below which can be seen in the Exhibition.
Professor Rosen - an architect
Designs textiles - a revival he brought about
Designs silver for A. Michelsen
Kai Eysker - an architect
Designs silver for A. Michelsen
Rafn - an architect
Designs furniture
Harold Hansen - a painter
Designs applied silver figures for A. Michelsen
Helge Jensen - a painter
Decorates pottery for Kahler's
Jais Neilsen - a painter and sculptor with examples in the Fine Arts Section
Models pieces for the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Co.
Gerhard Henning - a painter
Models and decorates pieces for the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Co.
Tiedeman - a painter
Models and decorates pieces for the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Co.
Pol Gauguin - a painter
Decorates pieces for Bing and Grondahl Porcelain Co.
Jean Gauguin - a sculptor
Models pieces for Bing and Grondahl Porcelain Co.
Georg Jensen - a sculptor
Designs the pieces for his own firm
Wagner - a sculptor
Models pieces for Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Co.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 1927, 086-87. View Original
November 4, 1927
The four Danes who have brought the Danish Exhibition to the Brooklyn Museum prove to be a thoroughly alert and genial quarter. At their head is Captain Poul U. Michelsen, the third generation of his family to run the firm of A. Michelsen that is to Georg Jensen in Denmark what Tiffany is to Cartier here or Cartier to Tiffany, however you want to put it. He is a sociable soul of the man-about-town type, is a typical blonde, blue-eyed Nordic, is of medium height, sturdily built, with a ruddy face and sharp nose.
A good part of his first few days here were spent in finding a place to live near Central Park so that he could have his morning ride at six o'clock, a habit he formed during his eighteen years in the army.
He is quite a figure in Denmark as this soldier and wealthy business man has carried still further than his predecessors the policy of employing painters, sculptors, architects and draughtsmen of repute as decorators and designers for the silver and jewelry the firm produces. This policy of employing real artists is, by the way, the secret of the high artistic quality of the Danish crafts.
He is particularly well fitted to head the exhibition Commission here as he did the same thing for Denmark at the Exposition des Arts Decoratifs in Paris in 1925.
Architect Tyge Hvasa - not just Mr. Hvass as we would designate an eminent architect in this country - is probably the most approachable of the men. He deviates from the Nordic type in his brunette complexion and square face and he dresses in the approved Fifth Avenue manner.
He supervised the building of the Danish pavilions in the Panama-Pacific Exposition and in the Exposition des Arts Decoratifs in 1925, is in charge of the design and arrangement of the Brooklyn Museum exhibition and is Secretary General of the Exhibition commission. He is know at home as a house architect but he has been called in for consultation on several large jobs.
Just after the United States bought the islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John from Denmark he was sent there by the Danish National Museum to make measurements and drawings of houses, public buildings and fortifications of their colonial period, which corresponded roughly to the time this country was made up of colonies. This he accomplished in two months, a feat which architects here have said is almost unheard of. The work was later published by [space intentionally left blank] in an edition limited to 300 of a handsome monograph at the permission of the National Museum.
The most vivacious man of the group is the portrait painter, Erick Struckman, member of the Danish Royal Academy, who is in charge of the 150 paintings and 50 sculptures that illustrate the development of these fine arts in Denmark from 1870 to and including many of the living young moderns.
He is the humorist of the delegation and darts about wi th lots of nervous energy and a springy step, dropping Danish wise cracks as he goes and now and then emitting remarks in English that are delightful in the way that some of Ed Wynn's are, in the remarking more than for the content.
He wears a moustache, has a rather bushy head of brown hair that is turning gray, sometimes wears bone-rimmed spectacles with gold bows, favors suits that fit his good upstanding figure tightly, often wears a morning coat and gray trousers, and spats always.
All the Museum guards and workmen who helped him hang the pictures and place the weighty sculptures would vote for him for any office because of his genuine courtesy and democratic
spirit and his tact in hectic situations. He never stuck at pitching in and lugging things around and even tugging at ponderous marbles and bronzes here and there to save time in his lightning arrangement of them in groups.
He is well-known at home not only for his painting but in official capacities. For fifteen year he has been the president of the Society of Free Painters, the organization that revolted from the Academy around 1890. It holds one of the four most important and probably the most popular annual exhibition in Denmark. Furthermore, for the last seven years he has been President of the Society for the Protection of Nature. He likes our trees here but he is pretty much irked every evening at the billboards he sees on the way to New Rochelle where he is staying with his brother. In Denmark one of the widely scattered watchmen of his society simply informs headquarters of any assault on nature he observes and if the government authorities think anything like a billboard is a violation of nature they have it summarily disposed of with no one's permission asked.
The only woman on the commission is Meta Lassen, born of farmer parents in Denmark, who considers the United States her home as she has been here off and on for years and likes our alertness and open-minded attitude on many subjects. She is a registered nurse in California, dld nursing there, organized the Cosmopolitan Home for Nurses in San Francisco, carried on a vacation house called The Haven for tired-out poor mothers so that they could get away for a couple of weeks a year from their ubiquitous children and, did social and clinical work for unmarried mothers and their babies until she was fed up with poverty and misery. So, being broke, she worked her away across the continent by getting assignments of travelling nursing companion for invalids until she discovered to her surprise on reaching New York that she had accumulated enough to live well in Denmark for awhile.
So, to see some beauty, she went home where she knew art was doing well. She returned here, after seeing some of Europe, with a collection of Georg Jensen' s silver which she took to the coast. This trip resulted in her running across several representatives of other Danish firms that turned out she good work and she was impressed by the scattered and ineffectual efforts their representati were making.
This gave her the brilliant idea of an all-inclusive Danish exhibition sponsored by the Danish government. She lighted on the Brooklyn Museum as the most likely place for such a show and Dr. Fox, the Director, fell in with the suggestion quickly as he was in close touch with Scandinavian art. He asked her to find out what the Danes thought of such a project, so she spent the next three years talking up the idea at home with the result, the present $1,000,000. show in Brooklyn.
After she conducts the collection allover the United States, which will take about a year' s time, she hopes to establish a Danish Center in New York where the Danes can have their many lodge rooms and where visitors can get information about this country. In addition whe [sic] wants to start a permanent exhibition or store where the Danish arts and crafts can always be seen. All this depends on her getting the right to live here in the next few years. She missed a technicality in omitting to get re-entry papers when she went home to get up the exhibition and she gave up her place on the emigration list in order to come with the exhibition as a visitor. Her present status allows her to stay here only as long as she is with the show.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 1927, 088-92. View Original
November 14, 1927
His Excellency Constantin Brun, the Minister from Denmark, made the address at three o'clock Monday afternoon that officially opened the Danish Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture and Applied Art at the Brooklyn Museum. The opening was an invitation affair given by the President and Museums Committee of Trustees for the contributing members of the Museum and their guests.
After the Minister's address the galleries were thrown open for inspection for the first time and the guests were offered a view of the 150 paintings and 50 sculptures which composed the fine arts division and which trace the development of Danish art from 1870 to and including the present. The other division of the exhibition revealed two rooms of architectural drawings and photographs, a large collection of porcelain and pottery and other exhibits consisting of such things as silver, pewter. bronze, furniture, textiles and book-binding. The reception committee consisted of Mr. Frank L. Babbott, president of the Board of Trustees. Mr. Walter H. Crittenden, Chairman of the Museums Governing Committee; Mr. and Mrs. Edward C. Blum, Dr. George W. Brush, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Frazier, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Good, Mrs. A. Augustus Healy, Mr. and Mrs. Luke Vincent Lockwood. Mr. and Mrs. John Hill Morgan, Mr. Horace J. Morse, Mr. and Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt, Mr. and Mrs. William A. Putnam, and Dr. William Henry Fox, Director of the Museum, and Mrs. Fox.
Capt. Poul U. Michelsen, Commissioner-General of the Exhibition received a telegram on Monday morning before the opening from the Crown Prince of Denmark which read: "Accept my best wishes for the National Danish Exhibition in the United States of America. (Signed) Crown Prince Frederik".
At 3:30 Dr. Fox escorted the Danish Minister into the Rotunda and as they appeared the orchestra struck up the Danish National anthem. The guests then arranged themselves in a semicircle at the south side of the Rotunda and listened to Dr. Fox's introductory remarks and to the formal address of the Danish Minister which officially opened the exhibition. After that the guards removed the screen that closed off the painting callery and Dr. Fox escorted His Excellency into the exhibition of paintings. This was the signal which opened the public inspection of the exhibition.
The rest of the afternoon consisted of a reception and tea. This occurred in the Rotunda on the third floor of the Museum and the room was decorated with four Flemish tapestries and with small cedar trees arranged along the wall between the various groups of statuary which are the permanent exhibition in the Rotunda. At one side there was a long table decorated with a bronze olla filled with russet chrysanthemums and oak leaves and with two large seven-branch candelabra with yellow candles.
"The finest and most representative collection of Danish paintings and sculpture and applied arts that has ever been brought together is now at the Brooklyn Museum", is the comment made by Dr. Henry Goddard Leach, Editor of the FORUM and President of the American Scandinavian Foundation after he had seen the Exhibition, which opened on Monday afternoon, November 14th. "It is a truly remarkable showing, especially the Fine Arts Division, and it is a proud claim for America that the Danish people must come to the United States to see a finer single collection of their fine arts than they can see in their own country. This situation is easy to understand from the catalogue where the credit for loans is given. Many of the exhibits have been lent by the finest museums of Denmark such as the Royal States Museum of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, the Hirschsprung Museum in Copenhagen, the new Carlsborg Glyptotek, the Kolding Community Museum of Fine Arts, and the community Museum at Skaw. The balance of the paintings come from well-known private collectors and from the artists themselves.
"It has never been possible to hold such an exhibition in any other country, as never before have the large Danish museums allowed their most treasured works to leave the country. It seems to me that Americanshould [sic] be particularly grateful for the generous spirit shown by the Danish Government and its assistance which made such a splendid exhibition possible."
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 1927, 103-5. View Original
December 7, 1927
The first accession acquired by the Brooklyn Museum as a result of the Danish Exhibltion, which has been on view for four weeks and which will continue for another week at the Museum, is an interesting piperack which was presented by Mrs. Dagmar Bagger.
This is an 18th century piece, consisting of wood and needlework, that measures 2 feet high and 30 inches long. Above the needlework panel is an entablature with brass hooks surmounted by a scroll top device ending in rosettes and with a drooping foliate curving on the curves of the central scrolls.
The most interesting part of the piece, however, is the needlework panel done in wool on canvas in cross-stitch. It depicts a castle and old barn on the edge of a lake with a sail-boat, row-boat and swans on it and people in the meadow in the foreground. The barn is typically Danish in that the lower part is of brick and the upper part of plaster timbered with oak and the roof is covered with moss. The conventional border around the panel, done in the same stitch, carries out somewhat the foliate carving on the scroll top.
This piece of household furniture is known in Denmark as a "pibebret" and was used for long pipes made of tubing and wound around with horse hair. Some of the pipes were so long that they were pushed along the floor.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 1927, 135. View Original
May 24, 1929
One of the most signal honors that can be bestowed by the Government of Denmark has just been conferred upon Dr. William Henry Fox, Director of the Brooklyn Museum, and Mr. Frank L. Babbott, former President of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. This honor in the form of the decoration of the Order of Danneborg, one of the most exclusive Orders of all the European countries.
In the letter accompanying Dr. Fox's decoration, His Excellency C. Brun, Minister of Denmark to the United States, said: "I am very pleased to inform you that under date of April 23, 1929 it has pleased His Majesty the King of Denmark and Iceland to confer on you the Decoration as a Commander of the Second Degree of the Order of Danneborg, as a recogniton of your interest for Danish Art and Industry and your valuable assistance in connection with the recent Exhibition of Danish Art and Applied Art in the United States."
The Order is conferred only on persons who have done an extraordinary service to Denmark. Dr. Fox has for several year been a leader in this country in the promulgation of Danish culture, seconded by the Trustees of the Museum whose support is recognized in the bestowal of the Order on Mr. Babbott, who was President of the Brooklyn Institute at the time of the Danish Exhibition. The two most tangible evidences of this interest in Danish culture are the permanent gallery of Danish Decorative Arts at the Brooklyn Museum and the important Exhibition of Danish Fine and Applied Arts, organized by Dr. Fox, which was held at the Museum in the fall of 1927 and toured the country for a year.
This Order was first instituted by King Waldemar II in 1219 and revived by King Christian V in 1671. In 1808 King Christian VI enlarged the membership and in 1842 it was divided into three classes: the first class, the Order of the Grand Cross; the next, Commander of the Second Class; and the last, Knight of the Third Class. In 1861 the second class was divided into two grades. The King of Denmark is hereditary head of the Order and the four personages holding the Order of the Grand Cross and known as Grand Commanders are; the King of Norway; the King of Great Britain; Prince Waldemar of Denmark, brother of the late Czarina and the late Queen Alexandria of Great Britain; and Prince George of Greece and Denmark.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 04-06/1929, 057-8. View Original
September 5, 1929
The thoroughness of the Danish Government's appreciation of faithful services rendered was made evident yesterday at the Brooklyn Museum when a decoration and certificate were conferred upon one of the Museum's staff, the foreman of the workmen, for excellent work in connection with the large exhibition of Danish Fine Arts and Applied Arts shown there in the fall of 1927.
In the presence of the Museum staff, Consul-General Bech of Denmark made a personal presentation of the medal to Joseph Seebeck, Custodian of the Museum. The decoration consists of a silver medal attached to a red and white ribbon, the national colors of Denmark. It is accompanied by a certificate signed by the King of Denmark and is given by the King in recognition of services for Denmark and for work of technical excellence.
It naturally came Mr. Seebeck because of the remarkable record he made in supervising and accomplishing the work of installation of the great exhibition which came here from Denmark in 1927 late in the summer. Due to Mr. Seebeck's ingenuity and his handling of the workmen under him the exhibition was ready for public view in the short time that was left for such a big task.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 07-09/1929, 080. View Original
October 28, 1927
In the two long exhibition galleries on the upper floor of the Brooklyn Museum there is a great flurry and bustle these days. Truck loads of packing cases are being wheeled into the galleries, Customs House checkers are unpacking and verifying the contents of each case, excelsior is strewn around and empty and unopened cases are standing around in carefully marshalled batallions. The 300 cases present a gay appearance with their large labels especially designed for these crates. The labels are in the form of the bright red flag of Denmark and its white cross on the cross-bar of which is printed "'Exhibition of the Danish Arts and Crafts - U.S.A. 1927-28". Furthermore, each case has its particular symbol stencilled on it to designate its contents, such as a Greek vase for the porcelains.
We picked our way through the busy scene trying to single out the three Danes who have brought over this large show of applied arts, paintings and sculpture which is to open at the Brooklyn Museum on November 15th. We wanted to learn if possible what kind of people the three men and the woman are who have been given charge of this stupendous task. Soon we encountered a person in authority, judging from the alacrity with which his commands were obeyed by the porters in denim. He was a man of medium height, clean shaven, with a squarish, genial face, dark hair and wearing a dark gray suit of corded material with a double-breasted coat.
When we asked him who was in charge that could tell us something about the forthcoming exhibition, he said, with only a slightly foreign accent, "That man over there," and pointed out a military-looking person with a ruddy face, sharp nose, blond hair, eyebrows and mustache and wearing a trim blue serge suit. "That is Capt. Michelsen, Commissioner General of the Exhibition," we were informed. Thus the military bearing was explained, for this man had served in the Danish Army for eighteen years. He is a horse lover and gets up every morning at six to ride in Central Park. We elicited the further information that he left the army to assume the management of the firm of U. Michelsen, which was founded by his grandfather in the early part of the last century. In reply to our inquiry as to what the firms business is, our friend in gray said, "They are silversmiths and jewelers. In Denmark they are like your large jewelry firms here of - What do you call them? - Ah. yes, Tiffany and Cartier."
We remarked that it was odd for a military man and a business executive to be at the head of such an important art exhibition. "Yes, it would seem so," he said, motioning to some porters the place to deposit a newly arrived case. "But, Capt. Michelsen has done it before. He represented Denmark in the great Decorative Arts Exposition in 1925. That was because he has been one of the leading men in our country in the movement to put beauty and good design for our applied arts right into the factories so that fine artistic things would be sure to get into the homes of the people." "From all I hear he has been very successful." "Yes, highly successful, as you will see when the exhibition oepns."
We looked again more carefully at this man of diverse interests and abilities and noticed how graciously the traits of the soldier, the successful business man and the champion of art in industry were combined in this one efficient, polite and smiling gentleman.
Another person we had been watching with amusement, from out the corner of our eye, was an older, merry, gesticulating man, wearing spectacles and with rather bushy blond hair and a blond mustache that was turning gray. A standing, bat-wing collar and carefully fitted black suit with a white pin stripe proved him to be an immaculate dresser. He moved about briskly with a springing step, dropping a remark here and there that always elicited a smile from the person to whom it was directed.
"Is that man on your committee?" we asked. You mean Mr. Struckmann over there? Yes, he is a well known portrait painter in Denmark and has charge of the 150 paintings and 50 pieces of sculpture in our exhibition." "I presume he has an official position then in Denmark?" "Quite right, he has been the President of the Society of Free Painters since 1915. That society and the Academy are our two great artists' organizations. You may be interested to know that the Free Society revolted, or sprang from the Academy the end of the last century, but many of its members are also members of the Academy now. Mr. Struckmann's group are the ones who give 'Den Frie Udstillung' each year - Oh, pardon me, perhaps you do not know Danish - that is 'The Free Exhibition'. It is a very popular event as the Society is an alive and vital one."
"Does he seem to like this country?" "Most certainly. He is especially pleased with Westchester where he is staying, on account of its trees but he is very much disturbed by the number of billboards that obstruct some of the views. You see, he has also become well known at home for his important part in the movement to preserve many of the fine old natural things in Denmark, such as trees and old roads, and preventing the hiding and spoiling of fine old buildings. He is so much interested in this work that he was elected president of the Society for the Protection of Nature."
"How do you like the United States yourself?" we ventured.
"Very much," he replied, smiling genially. "I have been here before and know your skyscrapers very well. I am so glad to see your new Telephone Building. I think it is very fine. But one of the most enjoyable things I have seen is your football." "What games have you seen?" we asked in surprise. "The Violet team, as they told me it was called, of New York University, who played against the Red team about a week ago - Rutgers, I think. The New York team's machine-like military huddle - is that the word? - was really something beautiful to see." "Don't you play football in Denmark?" "Oh, yes, but not like you do. I would hate to be in front of one of our football players when he makes a flying tackle, I believe you call it," and he grinned from ear to ear, making motions of distress as he swayed from side to side holding his hands against his ears.
Just then more cases arrived on a truck that demanded attention, so my friend in gray said, "Come, I will introduce you to Capt. Michelsen." Upon introduction the Captain made a quick, stiff military bow from the waist, looking at us fixedly with smiling blue eyes. Our first companion then excused himself politely and darted away.
"Who is that gentleman," we asked, "who has been answering my questions so patiently?" "Didn't he tell you? That is Mr. Tyge Hvass, the Secretary-General of the Exhibition Commission." "What does he do in Denmark?" "He is an architect and a designer and builder of houses, rather than large public buildings, but he is also very well known as a consulting architect for large construction work." "So that's why he was interested in our skyscrapers," we observed. "And I presume there is some particular reason why he was selected to be a member of your Committee?" "Oh, yes, indeed," said the Captain, smiling. "He was the designer of the Danish pavilions in the Panama-Pacific Exposition and the Exposition of Decorative Arts in Paris. It may interest you to know also that there is an official publication of the report of his work which resulted from his having been sent by the National Museum to the islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John just after the United States bought them from Denmark. He spent some time there making measurements and drawings of the most beautiful monuments, buildings and fortifications that were built there during our colonial period."
"Is there some designing for him to do in connection with this show?" "To be sure. He has made the plan of arrangement and is designing the stands and tables, which are being built, and on which we will arrange the exhibits. He has his hands full just now, but he has had good experience in just this work as he planned the arrangement and designed the tables for the special exhibition we arranged for Dr. Fox in the summer of 1926."
"A special exhibition?" we asked, looking rather blank. "Yes, in order to demonstrate to him what we could bring here for this show we arranged a complete exhibition in miniature in Copenhagen a year ago this summer that he came to see,"
Just then Dr. Fox, Director of the Museum, happened in with Miss Meta Lassen whom we had only seen before but who was pointed out then as the one who had made the original suggestion to the Museum that it arrange for the forthcoming exhibition and had done prodigious work arranging a meeting of minds on the subject. "Capt. Michelsen has just told me of a special exhibition you saw in Denmark in 1926," we remarked to Dr. Fox. "I have never heard of it before." "No, of course you didn't," he said. "It wasn't a public exhibition and so was not in the papers. To my surprise it was very elaborately got together especially for me and it was the most exclusive and brilliant exhibition that has ever been arranged for my rpivate [sic] view. I went to Copenhagen expecting to see a few things here and there of the kind that would make up an exhibition, so you can imagine my astonishment when I was ushered into a sizeable exhibition room in the Museum of Industrial Arts with a complete formal show made up of the kind of things you see being unpacked here now. It was all carefully prepared down to the last detail even of setting and decoration. I'll tell you. These Danes are thorough people."
After watching the bustle and hurry for a little while longer and admiring the efficient way in which the work of unpacking and checking was all being handled, we went away realizing that a truly distinguished trio of Danish gentlemen had quietly slipped into this country a few days ago.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 1927, 067-73. View Original
July 26, 1927
The Brooklyn Museum makes preliminary announcement of an exhibition of painting and sculpture and of the arts and crafts of Denmark which will be presented on November 14th next. The Danish Minister of Trade has appointed a special committee of which the Chairman is Mr. Benny Dessau, President of the Permanent committee for Exhibitions in Foreign countries. The committee consists of leading men representing the various ministries interested in the exhibition and also representatives of the museums of the arts and crafts. The Danish government has made an appropriation of 40,000 crowns to provide for the organization expenses. His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederick has graciously agreed to be the protector of the Danish Exhibition, while the Danish Minister in Washington, Mr. Constantin Brun, has been asked to assume the Honorary Presidency and the Danish Consul-General, Mr. G. Bech, the Vice-Presidency. Capt. Paul U. Michelsen has been appointed as Commissary General for the forthcoming exhibition and will arrive in this country on October 16th, accompanied by Mr. Tyge Hvass, who was one of the architects of the Danish Pavillion at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco and who also designed the Danish Pavillion at the Exposition des Arts Decoratifs in Paris in 1925. These gentlemen will assist in the installation at the Brooklyn Museum. For the first time Danish art will be adequately presented in this country. The best-known living painters and sculptors and the finest designers of the minor arts will be represented. In addition there will be a retrospective exhibition of the works of the most eminent Danish painters of the last twenty-five years. The exhibition will remain at the Brooklyn Museum for six weeks, after which it will go on a tour of the various cities of the country as far west as Los Angeles.
On the 28th of November the Museum will present an exhibition of fifty-one paintings by living Bavarian artists. This collection has been organized by Prof. Carl van Marr of the Royal Academy of National Arts at Munich and embraces the work of the best-known contemporary artists of the Bavarian School.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 1927, 058-9. View Original
October 16, 1927
Capt. Poul U. Michelsen, Commissioner General of the Danish National Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture and Applied Art, which will open at the Brooklyn Museum on the 14th of November, will arrive from Denmark on the "Frederick the VIII" on Monday morning next. He will be accompanied by Mr. Tyge Hvass and Mr. Erick Struckmann. Mr. Hvass is the architect who erected the Danish pavillion at the Panama-Pacific Exposition and he will install the applied arts section of the Exhibition in Brooklyn.
Mr. Struckmann represents a number of the Danish artists' societies and will install the paintings. Capt. Michelsen is the Chairman of the Guild of Craftsmen of the Kingdom of Denmark and has been the representative of the Government at the Exposition of Decorative Arts in Paris in 1925 and numerous exhibits in various parts of Europe. The exhibition in the United States was organized under the protection of the Crown Prince of Denmark and a Government grant for the purpose was received by a committee including members of the Foreign Office, directors of the national art collections and influential business men of Copenhagen. After the exhibition closes at Brooklyn, it will go on a tour of the country as far west as the Pacific coast. The exhibits were displayed publicly in Copenhagen at the Art Industry Museum preceding their shipment to America. The Danish press declare that they equal in importance the exhibition made at Paris.
Next Wednesday at 1 o'clock the deputation from Denmark will be the guests of the Consul General of Denmark, Mr. Georg Bech, and a committee of the Danish colony in New York, at the Bankers' Club, at which will be present Hon. Constantin Brun, the Danish Minister at Washington, officers of the American-Scandinavian Foundation and other persons well known in New York.
William Henry Fox
Director, Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 1927, 063-4. View Original
October 31, 1927
Announcement can now be made in some detail of the manifold objects that will be shown in the Exhibition of Danish Painting, Sculpture and Applied Arts which will open to the public at the Brooklyn Museum of Art on November 15th. An idea of the proportions of the exhibition can be gained from the total value of the exhibits which amount roughly to $1,000,000, although some of the paintings are, of course, priceless. It has proved necessary to give over the entire row of 10 galleries along the front of the third floor of the Brooklyn Museum to the show.
The 150 oil paintings and 50 pieces of sculpture which will occupy the entire west exhibition galleries will trace the development of these branches of the fine arts from 1870 through to many of the young living painters. They will incidentally also do much to introduce to the visitor something of the life and character of Denmark.
Many of the works in the Fine Arts section have been lent by several of the most important museums in Denmark. First is the Royal States Museum of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, which has permitted a generous collection of works of Denmark's finest painters to be brought here. This marks the first instance of that Museum's allowing any of its treasures to leave the country. Other important museums who have contributed canvases are the Hirschsprung Museum in Copenhagen, a private museum whose status is comparable to that of the Frick Gallery in New York, the New Carlsborg Glyptotek, the finest private museum in Denmark, the Kolding Community Museum of Fine Arts and the Community Museum at Skaw. The artists themselves have, of course, contributed a large proportion of the canvases. An idea of the calibre of several of the artists can be gained from the fact that many of them, namely, Kroyer, U. Ancher, Tuxen, Hammershoj, J. Skovgaard, E. Nielsen and V. Johannes have won one or more first prizes in international exhibitions in Paris, London, Rome and Berlin.
The following of the development of painting will begin with examples from men of the Tuxen-Kroyer school, instead of beginning with works by the father of Danish painting, C. W. Eckersburg who began painting in Denmark in 1816 and who was the founder of a school that brought about a veritable golden age of painting through the honest, accurate and reverent study of nature. The Tuxen-Kroyer school came after the decline of this great age and was a rebirth from the sterility into which it drifted. L. Tuxen and P. S. Kroyer became prominent in Denmark in the late 70's after their study under Leon Bonnat in Paris. They were landscape painters and members of the artists' colony in the fishing village of Skaw at the northermost point of Jutland. Artists of this group who will be represented in the exhibition are Michael Ancher, the painter of fisherfolk, his wife Anna Ancher, who did delicately colored interiors and figures, and Viggo Johansen, painter of home life especially that of his own family. Tuxen has been in California for the last year painting portraits.
Several other important painters not of the Skaw colony but who are of the same period are Julius Paulsen, a lyric landscape painter, L. A. Ring who rediscovered the landscape of sealand and its peasantry. Th. Philipsen, a landscape and animal painter who was much influenced by the French Impressionists, Albert Gottschalk and Wilhelm Hammershoj, who has the greatest reputation of all the Danish painters outside of his own country. This sprang from his scorning of the use of widely varied colors and for his classic form and line and the monumental character of his work. Works by all these artists will be on view.
Probably the most influential man in Denmark's recent period is Kristian Zahrtmann who revolted from the Academy's methods in the 80's. He made a great mark on painting in his country and was important in encouraging the young moderns as late as 1905 through his understanding of their individual abilities and his capacity to bring them out. Works by this man of an imagination and originality quite foreign to his country will be shown in all their sumptuous colors.
Three men who form another group are the Fuen painters Fritz Syberg, Johannes Larsen and Peter Hansen, landscape artists who took their subjects from nature on their island of Fuen and produced the most truly Danish work of the later artists. Another man to be represented from Fuen is Poul Christiansen who composed highly decorative color schemes of which a few are included in the exhibition.
Examples of the reaction against naturalism show the next trend of development in the works of the great Joachim Skovgaard, famous for his frescoes in Viborg Cathedral in Jutland, his sculptures and his work in the arts and crafts. Another important man at this period whose work will be exhibited is J. F. Willumsen of the same general school as Skovgaard. He was a student of Kroyer who broke with tradition, however, and was influenced by, but did not succumb to, the French Impressionists, Symbolists and Paul Gauguin. He became an isolated figure with no followers but with considerable moral influence. Still another man of this period who will be represented is Einar Nielsen, a painter of subjects from the sombre side of life who did monumental things reminiscent of the Italian quatrocento.
The next important development will be demonstrated in the works of Ludvig Find, Harold Giersing and Sigurd Swane who were much influenced by the Frenchmen Renoir, Bonnard and Vuillard. They came into prominence during the first years of this century.
Lastly there is the group that brings the development up to the present and which is composed of the young artists who are fully modern and still undergoing development. They are for the most part under the French influence from Cezanne through the most important men since his time. Some of these young men have even influenced and stimulated their seniors. A few of this group are Olaf Rude, William Sharff, Oluf Hoest, Kraesten Iversen, Axel P. Jensen, Wilhelm Lundstrom and Jens Sondergaard.
The 50 sculptures are as representative as a group of this size can be when it must show the changes from 1870 to the present. The pieces are of marble, bronze and wood and are examples of only the work of the most prominent artists. They are necessarily of rather modest proportions because of the long journey they had to make. There are animal sculptures by Fru Anna Marie, Carl Neilsen and Carl J. Bonnesen and other small pieces by Willumsen, the painter, Ludvig Brandstrup, Anders J. Bundgaard and Niels Hansen Jacobsenn. The larger pieces are by the aminent and versatile Kai Nielsen. Einar Utzen Frank, Johannes C. Bjerg, Jens Lund, whose special medium is old oak and Adam Fischer, the modernist who has lived in Paris a number of years.
There will also be a special section devoted to architecture in which many elevations and original drawings will be shown in this country for the first time. It is not possible to have an exhaustive treatment of this art as it has been so interestingly developed in Denmark except in a special exclusive exhibition but this exhibit will give a good idea of contemporary architecture in Denmark especially during the last ten years.
The entire east gallery will be devoted to the applied arts of which porcelain and pottery will be an important part. Beside these two arts the following will be well represented: gold. silver, pewter, jewelry, bronze, textiles, which include weaving, laces and embroidery, - furniture, glass book-binding, book decoration and printing.
These exhibits are nearly all contributed by the best artists who are encouraged and retained by the principal craft enterprises in Denmark. This calling in of artists of recognized reputation is a Danish national characteristic that accounts for the high state which the applied arts have attained in Denmark. The names of outstanding artists in the fine arts are continually appearing in connection with the arts and crafts as the exhibition will show.
By far the most important enterprises in pottery and porcelain are the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain works with its allied company, the Copenhagen Faience Factory, the Bing and Grondahl Manufactury of Copenhagen Porcelain and Kahler's. They will show specimens of porcelain, pottery glazed and unglazed, faience, celadon, biscuit and stoneware. The Royal Copenhagen is the oldest company as it was formed by royal wish in 1779, while the Bing and Grondahl company was organized in 1852. These are the two greatest Danish porcelain and pottery makers. The former will display stoneware bowls and jars with deep red glazes suggested by the Chinese sang de boeuf done by the collaboration of Christian Joachim, Artist Director of the Works and P. Norstrom; stoneware groups by two older men, Bode Willumsen and Knud Kyhn; monumental stoneware specimens by Jais Nielsen with decorations scratched through heavy glaze showing the ground color on some pieces and decorations laid on in strong flat relief on the curved sides of other pieces; gray crackled porcelain decorated with light and delicate touches of gold and iron red glaze done by Thorkild Olsen and N. Tideman; and a unique service with bluish glaze and a blue pattern, the so-called Tranquebar Service by Christian Joachim.
From the Bing and Grondahl company there will be stoneware by Bode Willumsen and Knud Kyhn; gray crackled porcelain by Miss Hegerman Lindencrone and Miss Garde, who have also made a specialty of openwork and pierced porcelain; exquisitely refined white porcelain with opaque glaze; a sea of decorations of figures of nude women and children in dazzling white glaze finished by Kai Nielsen just before his recent death; a series of glazed colored sculptures by Jean Gauguin, son of Paul Gauguin, the famous painter, made of a material he worked out himself, and entirely emancipated in design from their oriental predecessors, as well as faience groups covered with tin glaze, which are exhibited for the first time; and poroelain and stoneware designed by the versatile and gifted painter Ebbe Sadolin and his wife.
In the realm of silver there will be several pieces by the leader of modern Danish silverware and manufacture, George Jensen, consisting of works from his own designs partly based on designs of the eminent painter Johan Rohde. Another highly important firm of silversmiths and jewelers is that of A. Michelsen which was started in the early part of the 19th century and by 1848 was "Royal Court Goldsmith and Insignia Jeweler". This was the first of the silver firms to employ artists as designers and decorators so that it has numbered on its staff some of Denmark's most famous and distinguished artists who worked in black and white. Some of their former designers whose work will be exhibited were Thorvald Bindesboll, Harald Slott Moller, Arnold Krogh and, more recently, Svend Hammershoj. brother of the well known painter of the same name. A. Michelsen has not hesitated to employ the more modern artists either. Their work will be shown in candlesticks, lamps, fruit baskets, bonbonnieres in a unique style of tracery work, plate, silverware, cups and tankards for sports prizes, the last by Kay Fisker with flat figures in low relief done by Harald Hansen and soldered on; small cups by the architect Ib Lunding; ceramics mounted in silver, a new departure begun by this company; and other pieces by Johan Rohde, George Thylstrup and Ebbe Sadolin. Chalice-like flower bowls from designs by Profo Kaj Gottlob and done by the dean of the Copenpagen goldsmiths, Evald Nielsen, will be given a noticeable place.
Another metal in which the Danes excell is pewter. Some of the most important pieces done by Ebbe Sadolin and executed by Wolfhagen will be shown.
The furniture will show evidence of the deliberate revival of Dutch and English influence that took place in the late 18th century. There will be a writing-table box and chair by Kaare Klint, executed by C. B. Hansen, that shows a striving for simplification; hall furniture by Aage Raafn and executed by Otto Meyer and Jacob Peterson; dining room and garden pieces of pale oak designed by Professor Kaj Gottlob and built by Messrs. A. D. Iversen and Fritz Hansen's Successors.
The textiles will include weaving based on old peasant traditions as carried out by Professor Anton Rosen; embroidery and weaving by Clara Waever and Mette Westergaard, done after designs by Kristian Moehl; and Tonder lace, the highly refined popular craft cultivated by the peasants for centuries in western Slesvig.
The group of book binding, book decorating and typography promises to be an interesting section. Book-binding will be shown there by Anker Kyster, the pioneer in his craft, who was influenced by William Morris and Cohen Sanderson, the leaders of the 19th century revival movement in England, bindings by August Sandgren, a pictorial Bible illustrated by Joachim Skovgaard, vignettes and illustrations for books of poetry and comedies done by Waldemar Anderson and Axel Nygaard, illustrations for his own work, "The History of Architecture", by Wilhelm Wanscher and a book profusely illustrated with colored plates and pen drawings of birds by the bird painter Johannes Larsen.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 1927, 074-82. View Original
