Georg Jensen

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(b R?dvad, nr Copenhagen, 31 Aug 1866; d Copenhagen, 2 Oct 1935). Danish silversmith and sculptor. He was the son of a blacksmith, and at the age of 14 he was apprenticed to the goldsmith A. Andersen in Copenhagen. In 1884 he became a journeyman and in 1887 he enrolled at the Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi, where he studied sculpture with Theobald Stein (1829-1901), Bertel Thorvaldsen's successor; a bronze cast of his Harvester of 1891 is in the courtyard of the Georg Jensen silversmithy in Copenhagen. After graduating in 1892 Jensen took up ceramics, working with Joachim Petersen (1870-1943), and in 1900 his work was awarded an honourable mention at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. In the same year he received a grant to travel in France and Italy; it was during this trip that he became interested in the applied arts. On his return to Copenhagen, Jensen worked for the silversmith Mogens Ballin, and in 1904 he opened his own workshop, primarily making jewellery. His brooch of 1905, 'No. 20' (Copenhagen, Jensen Mus.), is representative of many of his early designs, which show the influence of Art Nouveau and are often characterized by full, simple forms incorporating stylized bird and flower motifs. In 1906 he produced his first complete set of flatware, 'Continental', which was still in production in the 1980s. Distinctive for its restraint and the interplay between its strong silhouette and a surface animated by small hammermarks, it is a clear expression of his involvement with the Arts and Crafts Movement. Many of Jensen's most famous pieces were produced between 1908 and 1918. In 1914 the Louvre, Paris, bought a silver bowl (1912), subsequently known as the 'Louvre bowl'. It shows both the slightly low, bulbous profile and the use of discrete bands of decoration that are typical of his hollow-ware.

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This celebrated silversmith was one of Denmark's best-known designers, giving his name to an enduring manufacturing firm associated with high-quality products. Having been apprenticed to a goldsmith in the 1870s and having later graduated in sculpture at the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen in 1892, Jensen won a grant from the Danish Academy to travel in France and Italy. After a brief spell working with Danish silversmith Mogens Baillin, Jensen opened his own company in 1904 in Copenhagen, initially producing modestly priced jewellery and later moving into holloware and flatware (1906). Many designers contributed to the growing success of the company, particularly Johan Rohde in the early stages, and, by 1908, the business employed nine silversmiths and two apprentices. The company had also begun to expand quite early on in its history, opening a branch in Berlin in 1909 for the sale of Jensen products and Royal Copenhagen porcelain, although this closed in 1914. In 1916 shares were sold in order to cater for increased production and the Georg Jensen Solvsmedie (Georg Jensen Silversmiths) was formed as a result, bolstered further by substantial capital investment in the company in the following year. The company experienced serious difficulties in the economic slump of the early 1920s but the position improved with the appointment of Frederik Lunning (see Lunning Prize) who opened a Georg Jensen Solvsmedie shop in London in 1921 and New York in 1924. Amongst the key designers working for the firm were Harald Nielsen, the Swedish designer Count Sigvard Bernadotte, and Henry Pilstrup. Apart from a brief spell in Paris (1925-6) Jensen himself held the post of artistic director for the firm, with others controlling the silversmith and retailing operations. Before his death in 1935, Jensen won many awards at international exhibitions including a Grand Prix at the Paris Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels, 1925, the International Exposition in Barcelona in 1929, and the Brussels World's Fair of 1935. After the Second World War the company continued to flourish, attracting new talent such as Henning Koppel and Nanna Ditzel, both of whom began working on commissions for the firm from 1954 onwards and, later, Allan Scharff and Jørgen Møller. From the 1970s onwards Georg Jensen Silversmiths underwent takeovers and mergers with a number of companies involved with jewellery, glass, and tableware, first by the Royal Porcelain Factory in 1972 and as part of a large group under the name of Royal Scandinavia Ltd. in 1997.

Danish silversmith and designer Georg Arthur Jensen.

Georg Arthur Jensen (August 31, 1866, Raadvad, Denmark – October 2, 1935, Copenhagen) was a Danish silversmith.

Born in 1866, Jensen was the son of a knife grinder in the town of Raadvad just to the north of Copenhagen. Jensen began his training in goldsmithing at the age of 14 in Copenhagen. His apprenticeship, with the firm Guldsmed Andersen, ended in 1884 and this freed young Georg to follow his artistic interests.

From childhood, Jensen had longed to be a sculptor and he now pursued this course of study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. He graduated in 1892 and began exhibiting his work. Although his clay sculpture was well received, making a living as a fine artist proved difficult and he turned his hand to the applied arts. First as a modeller at the Bing & Grøndahl porcelain factory and, beginning in 1898, with a small pottery workshop he founded in partnership with Christian Petersen. Again the work was well received, but sales were not strong enough to support Jensen, by this point a widower, and his two small sons.

In 1901, he abandoned ceramics and began again as a silversmith and designer with the master, Mogens Ballin. This led Jensen to make a landmark decision, when in 1904, he risked what small capital he had and opened his own little silversmithy at 36 Bredgade in Copenhagen.

Jensen's training in metalsmithing along with his education in the fine arts allowed him to combine the two disciplines and revive the tradition of the artist craftsman. Soon, the beauty and fine quality of his Art Nouveau creations caught the eye of the public and his success was assured. The Copenhagen quarters were greatly expanded and before the close of the 1920s, Jensen had opened retail outlets as far ranging as New York, London, Paris, Stockholm, and Berlin.

Georg Jensen died in 1935, but in the preceding years he imbued the firm with his strongly held ideals concerning both artistry in design and excellence in craftmanship, this tradition has been adhered to throughout the twentieth century. Although Jensen himself was a proponent of the Art Nouveau style, he had the wisdom and foresight to allow his designers their own freedom of expression which expanded the stylistic scope of what the firm produced and allowed it to keep step with time.

External links

• Official Page
• Shop Georg Jensen
• Biography
• The Georg Jensen Society
• Jensensilver.com News and Info
• The Georg Jensen Designers

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