ART HANDICRAFTS AND APPPLIED ART By AAGE SØLVER Editor of "Haandværkerbladet". Art handicrafts in Denmark rest upon old traditions. By steady and continuous and consciously objective effort in the direction of cultivating skilful efficiency, it has been possible during the past hundred years to educate an industrial class in whom artistic feeling is really alive and among whom there is found an extensive desire to create things of beauty. But it is only during the past twenty-five years that the production of the art-handicrafts has gradually assumed that personal form and style upon the possession of which it can now be complimented. Right up to the change of the century the position in Denmark as indeed all over Europe was that one lived among and worked with the motives and models casually provided by the changing historic styles. This position was little pleasing, and even though the execution of the work was of the first rank, the appearance and tasteful character of the objects was merely a little attractive chaos of renaissance, empire, rococco, baroque and other intermediate forms; yes, one did not even flinch from utilizing the classic traditions to the utmost. This was not especially a Danish weakness: this lack of the faculty of personal emancipation and development was prevailent over the whole of Europe, and in itself it was really quite indifferent as to what country a piece of work was produced in, it could not be characterized with any special nationality. From this it directly followed that no country's production of art handicraft work was an object of export or could have the nature of such. These conditions have radically changed. England may very well be characterised as pioneer in this; names like John Ruskin and William Morris were to have a Group by The Royal Danish Porcelain Works from Original by Christian Thomsen. remarkable influence upon beauty in the form of things, and in Denmark one was not long in following the parole: »a thing of beauty is a joy forever<<. Both artists and craftsmen in Denmark set to work to create originality, beauty and personality in things, and the result certainly can be said to compensate for the effort, as Danish art handicraft in a great number of fields holds a position that is recognised the world over. This recognition has not only taken the form of diplomas and exhibition honours, but, what is more, cultivated and wealthy people of other countries are to a very considerable extent acquiring examples af Danish art handicraft. Danish art porcelain, as represented by the products of the Royal Porcelain Works and Messrs. Bing & Grøndahl, is in demand and valued by the most fastidious connoisseurs and collectors the world over. Danish art ceramic productions too, occupy a very prominent place, with the Kähler works leading in the van. Danish furniture, as designed by Danish artists and made by Danish cabinet makers, is also winning wide appreciation out in the world because of its noble and decorative appearance and the fine feeling displayed in the selection of the materials. As to silver, Danish silver work is also known wide around, and is valued for its original ingenuity in the motives employed, and for the intimate sympathy with the material that Danish silversmiths display in so marked a degree. Eloquent evidence as to how the art of the Danish silversmith is prized the world over is found in the fact that one undertaking, that of the sculptor and silversmith Georg Jensen, has branches in about thirty towns in both the old and the new world. In numerous other domains, including that of the bookbinder, art handicraft in Denmark stands very high, a fact which other countries often have had opportunities of substantiating at the great international exhibitions. It is therefore quite comprehensible that the products of Danish art handicrafts find buyers and sales in increasing degree in every part of the world where people have been made familiar with them. In Denmark, however, one is fully aware that the problem of giving products the impress of good taste is not entirely solved by a country merely understanding how to create and develop a high standard of art handicraft, the products of which, almost without exception would be so unique, that they naturally would be expensive to acquire and therefore could only be owned by relatively few individual people and private or public collections. The democratising tendencies of the spirit of the age, and also, for the matter of that, all right and equity demand that the question of the beauty of things shall be placed in connection with the consideration as to how the greatest possible number of individuals and homes may be placed in such a position that they can possess things of tasteful form and character, and to this end there is only one road open, viz. a democratising of production so that there may be built up a real industry of applied art. Danish initiative is watchful and attentive towards this task, and individual undertakings, such, as for example, the Royal Porcelain Works, whose excellent administrative leader is much taken up with this question, are already hard at work putting a solution of it into practice. In the production of gold and silver goods, too, as indeed in the metal industry as a whole, work in the same direction is being followed purposefully and consistently, while the leading cabinet makers in the country are working towards a satisfactory scheme for a series-manufacture of low-priced, tasteful furniture |