By Rud Rasmussen, Kaare Klint
Located in WIJCKEL, NL
Two-seater sofa model 5011 in original cognac leather and six-legged mahogany base. Produced by Rud. Rasmussen Cabinetmakers, Denmark. Minor marks on the frame, patina to the leather. Back covered in original canvas.
Shown at the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers’ Guild exhibition in 1935. Signed with manufacturer’s label to underside: (Rud. Rasmussens Snedkerier).
Kaare Klint is widely recognized as the father of Danish modern design. It is hard to overstate his influence. He developed an entirely new analytical approach to furniture design that his students at the Danish Academy of Art would emulate for years to come, yet was also inspired by historic designs from various cultures, modernizing and re-interpreting classic pieces for new generations.
Literature: Gorm Harkær, Klintiana: “Kaare Klint”, vol.2, pg 94.
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Kaare Klint (1888-1954) is regarded as the founding father of Danish Modernim. As an architect, furniture designer and leading professor at the Department of Furniture Design at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Klint established the principles of modern Danish furniture by combining a profound appreciation of traditional construction techniques with a modernist emphasis on function and a rejection of ornaments.
Klint’s design was always based on relentless research; he never compromised. Every piece had to fulfill its purpose, be completely clear in its construction with dimensions and proportions corresponding to the human body and display materials and craftsmanship of the highest quality. Logic, often using a mathematical system of measures, and a constructive way of thinking were the foundation of Klint’s philosophy of furniture design. Like many of his contemporaries, counting Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius, he advocated standardization and functional requirements and dismissed the use of all ornamentation. But Klint realized his vision in wood and leather, using traditional craftsmen and working methods and often finding inspiration in historical models. In this way, he charted the course for an alternative Nordic Functionalism that idealized the workshop and the collaboration between furniture architects and cabinetmakers as opposed to the factory.
Kaare Klint’s first major work was a collaboration with his mentor, the architect Carl Petersen. In 1914 they were commissioned to design furniture and fixtures for Faaborg Art Museum. One of the highlights to emerge from this commission was the Faaborg chair, a light and elegant chair with clear references to classical furniture. The construction and proportions of an 18th century English Chippendale chair was also clearly visible in the famous Red Chair, designed in 1927 for the lecture hall at The Museum of Arts and Crafts (now Design Museum Denmark), but with its straight back deprived of all unnecessary decoration and its beautiful Niger leather, the Red Chair was far from an imitation. Other important works include The Propeller Stool (1927), The ‘Mix Chair’ designed in collaboration with his pupil Edvard Kindt-Larsen in 1930, the Safari Chair (1930), The Deck Chair (1939 and The Church Chair designed in 1936 for the Bethlehem Church in Copenhagen. Also noteworthy are Klint’s well-proportioned cabinets and wardrobes...
Category
Vintage 1940s Danish Scandinavian Modern Sofas
MaterialsLeather, Mahogany
