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Poul Henningsen, "PH Artichoke" Pendant, Louis Poulsen, Denmark

About the Item

Artist Poul Henningsen (1894 Ordrup, Denmark – 1967 Hillerød, Denmark) was a famous Danish architect, designer, author and critic. Poul Hnningsen is considered one of the leading figures of the Danish cultural live between the two world wars and is most commonly associated with his design of the PH-lamp series of incandescent lights. He started his career with the architect Kay Fisker in 1919. From 1920 onwards, Poul Henningsen freelanced as an architect and designer. His most valuable contribution to design was in the field of glare-free illumination. Henningsen spent developing lighting that was not harsh and glaring but shed warm, soft light. The first lamps in the "PH" range were shown at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts at Paris in 1925. For these designs Henningsen was awarded the gold medal. The 1925 PH-lamps which - like his later designs - used carefully analysed reflecting of the light rays from the bulb to achieve glare-free and uniform illumination. His light fixtures were manufactured by Danish lighting manufacturer Louis Poulsen, a company with which Henningsen would build a lifelong working relationship. During his first year with Louis Poulsen he developed his first PH-lamp for which he won a gold medal on the 1925 world exhibition in Paris. His best-known designs are most likely the PH Artichoke (1958) and PH5 (1958). His lighting designs created the economic foundation of his later work. Manufacture and sale of some of his lighting fixtures, such as the PH5 Pendant Lamp, continues today. Other notable designs by him include the PH Grand Piano (1931), examples of which are included in several prominent twentieth-century design collections, including that of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. In 1946, he re-designed the Glass Hall (Glassalen) for Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. Description A lacquered and chromed steel pendant, model PH Artichoke. Designed in 1958 by Poul Henningsen for the "Langelinie" pavillion in Copenhagen and executed by Louis Poulsen. The “PH Artichoke” is constructed of 72 steel shades mounted on 12 chromed steel supports. Each shade has a glossy broken-white lacquered outside and a matt lackered broken-white inside. Like all lights designed by Poul Henningsen The Artichoke's shades are positioned so that you cannot be blinded by the lightsource. PH Artichokes are made in 4 different sizes and four different finishes. This particular pendant is a white 60 cm diameter example with a E40 socket and was made circa 25 years ago. Execution Louis Poulsen, Denmark Original labels on the inside of the socketholder. Condition This “PH Kontrast” is in good vintage condition. Some light scratches and wear consistent of age and use. Some light corodation and minor chipped paint on some of the shades. Light discoloration, some stains. The plastic ceiling-cover has yellowed. Recently restored by straightening the shades and respraying some of the individual shades. We left the rest of the pendant in original condition to avoid over restoring it. Original porcelain lamp-fitting (E40), recently rewired, steel wires has been replaced (original cut wires are available). Literature Tina Jørstian and Poul Erik Munk Nielsen (ed.), “Light Years Ahead: The Story of the PH Lamp Louis Poulsen”, p. 276-278.

Creator:
Poul Henningsen (Designer),Louis Poulsen (Manufacturer)
Design:
Artichoke Lamp
Dimensions:
Height: 25.6 in (65 cm)Diameter: 23.63 in (60 cm)
Power Source:
Hardwired
Voltage:
110-150v,220-240v
Lampshade:
Included
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Chrome,Paint,Steel,Other
Place of Origin:
Denmark
Period:
Late 20th Century
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1995
Condition:
Additions or alterations made to the original: Recently restored by straightening the shades and respraying some of the individual shades. We left the rest of the pendant in original condition to avoid over restoring it. Steel suspensi wires has been replaced (original cut wires are available). Rewired: Electrical wire has been replaced as the original was cut short. Refinished. Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. Minor fading. This “PH Kontrast” is in good vintage condition. Some light scratches and wear consistent of age and use. Some light corodation and minor chipped paint on some of the shades. Light discoloration, some stains. The plastic ceiling-cover has yellowed.
Seller Location:
EL Waalre, NL
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU5141229657332
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Artichoke Lamp

The PH Artichoke lamp was born out of a lighting commission Poul Henningsen (1894–1967) received from Danish architects Eva and Nils Koppel to outfit the newly rebuilt Langelinie Pavilion, a Copenhagen restaurant that was bombed during World War II by the Germans with support from Danish collaborators. The original space — situated on the Copenhagen waterfront — dated back to 1902 and was a beloved spot for socializing in the city. The new, modernist 11-story pavilion was completed by the Koppels in 1958.The objective for Henningsen, a Danish architect, designer and author, was to create a light that was beautiful, whether it was on or off. To do so, he returned to a piece he had tinkered with three decades earlier: the PH Septima, a pendant fixture with seven light shades. He updated his old design for the Koppels by paying homage to the humble, edible globe artichoke. Henningsen devised 72 copper “leaves” that he staggered in rows to completely hide the light bulb inside and prevent any harsh glare from materializing. Each of the 12 rows would have six leaves. The genius of the Artichoke lamp lay in Henningsen’s choice to marry design with material. He was drawn to the gas lamps that illuminated his Danish hometown as a child and yearned to re-create the warmth that we attribute to gas lighting. The Artichoke lamp’s decorative arrangement of bent sheet copper emits a similarly radiant hue when lit from within, lending a healthy glow to the guests in the room. It took Henningsen only three months to finish the design upon receiving the commission. The initial version of the Artichoke lamp was manufactured by Danish lighting company Louis Poulsen, with which Henningsen began working in 1925. When the fixture was ultimately hung in the Langelinie Pavilion, it was so heavy that it required suspension from steel aircraft cables.The widely popular Artichoke lamp embodies Henningsen’s core beliefs about lighting. “This lamp is constructed with the most difficult and noble task in mind: lighting in the home,” he said. “The aim is to beautify the home and those who live there.”This mantra rang true throughout Henningsen’s career, as it also helps define other signature pieces of his, such as the PH5 pendant lamp, PH table lamp and more. Henningsen’s original PH lamp design won first prize for modern lighting at the International Exposition of Decorative Arts in Paris in 1925.Louis Poulsen continues to produce Henningsen’s floor lamps, sconces and more, and the Artichoke lamp is still available in its original copper as well as other assorted materials.

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Poul Henningsen

The name Poul Henningsen is synonymous with the best and most innovative modern Scandinavian lamps and other lighting. The Danish designer created a signature vocabulary of fixtures with tiered and layered shades in sculptural arrangements that are at once naturalistic and geometric.

Henningsen grew up in a town on the outskirts of Copenhagen and studied architecture at the Technical University of Denmark. He would become a noted art critic, journalist and screenwriter, but his first love was lighting design.

Henningsen’s childhood home was illuminated by oil lamps. When his family switched to electrified lighting, he was alarmed and repelled by the harsh glare cast by an incandescent bulb, and in his late teens he began conducting quasi-scientific experiments to measure which materials and methods best diffused or reflected light to give it a warm brightness. His work came to the attention of the lighting-fixtures firm Louis Poulsen, which sponsored the development of a prototype lamp. The design won a gold medal at the 1925 Paris Expositions Internationales des Arts Decóratifs et Industriels Modernes — from which the term Art Deco derives. The lamp, whose three-part shade is said to be inspired by the arrangement of a dinner plate atop a soup bowl atop a teacup, became the basis for Henningsen’s most successful design, the PH 4/3 desk lamp.

All told, Henningsen would design some 100 lighting fixtures in his career. Some of his most notable creations are hanging lamps, which include the Septima (1929), a pendant composed of seven graduated frosted-glass layers; the Spiral (1942), made of a single ribbon of enameled aluminum; and the Artichoke lamp (1958), whose 70 glass or metal fins in a staggered and graduated arrangement on a central steel frame resemble those of its namesake. The last is likely Henningsen’s masterwork and an icon of mid-20th-century design. Like all Henningsen lighting designs, it is striking, sculptural and — thanks to his insistence on the primacy of the quality of the light cast — superbly functional.

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