Center Table With Cross Pier Support By Axel Einar Hjorth

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Center Table With Cross Pier Support By Axel Einar Hjorth

About the Item

The work of Swedish architect and furniture designer Axel Einar Hjorth (1888-1959) is unmistakable for its inimitable sense of wit and elegance. After attending the Högre Konstindustriella Skolan, the renowned Stockholm arts institution (later called “Konstfack”), Hjorth began designing for a number of furniture manufacturers, including the Stockholm department store Nordiska Kompaniet working under architect Carl Bergsten. Hjorth was largely responsible for organizing displays at the 1923 Gothenburg Jubilee Exhibition, including his furniture designs for Bodafors, with whom he would continue to collaborate into the 1940s. Together with Carl Malmsten, Carl Hörvic, and others of his generation, Hjorth contributed to the flowering of Swedish design and its international recognition in the 1920s. For over ten years, Hjorth served as chief designer for the furniture department of the Nordiska Kompaniet department store, arguably the most exclusive manufactury in Sweden. Hjorth’s work from this period was largely characterized by the free adaption of classical themes that was adopted by the younger generation of architects and designers. At the 1929 World Fair in Barcelona, Hjorth exhibited his Cesar series. By the 1930s, Hjorth’s repertoire absorbed aspects of functionalism (as Modernist design was referred to in Sweden), if bypassing the agenda of social reform associated with the movement. In 1938, Hjorth left Nordiska Kompaniet and went into business for himself, including a showroom for his designs and an architectural office, which he would maintain through the 1940s. Hjorth produced a string of new models at this time that were notable for their lyrical lines and inventive design solutions. This lovely pair of side tables in birch speaks to the high level of craftsmanship achieved in Nordiska Kompaniet's workshops. This is especially evident in the details, such as the subtle double line engraved around the perimeter of the top to articulate its shape or the well-modeled entasis of the three supports column supports for each table. The crisp execution of the design emphasize the classical underpinnings in its design. This very elegant model was designed for the office of the Swedish Red Cross in the 1920s. Authorship is not clearly identified in the Nordiska Kompaniet records, although the piece shares a number of formal characteristics with designs by Hjorth, notably a birch desk for Bodafors dating from the mid-1920s that featured a similar almost tortoise-shell feeling treatment of the birch and Tuscan-style columns for supports that was illustrated in Wettergren's L’Art décoratif Moderne en Suède of 1925.

Attributed to:
Axel Einar Hjorth (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 26 in (66.04 cm)Diameter: 35 in (88.9 cm)
Style:
Scandinavian Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Pine
Place of Origin:
Sweden
Period:
1930-1939
Date of Manufacture:
mid-1930s
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. Expertly restored, minor repairs along bottom and one leg, minor ware commensurate with age.
Seller Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU9141899641