Scandinavian Art Pottery: Denmark and Sweden

by Robin Hecht

(Hardcover - 192 pages, 2000, Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PAISBN: 0764310445

Reviewed by: Bob Sindelar

With the increasing attention being paid to Modernism and 20th century design a small but growing number of today's pottery collectors have begun to recognize the importance of Scandinavian art pottery. Until now there has been but a single reference source available on the subject, Jennifer Opie's, now out-of-print, 1989 catalog documenting the Victoria & Albert Museum's collection of Scandinavian ceramics and glass. Helpful as it is, Opie's work just whets the appetite of the pottery collector.

If Opie's catalog was the appetizer, the recent publication of "Scandinavian Art Pottery: Denmark and Sweden," by Robin Hecht, is the much-anticipated first course.

Profusely illustrated with more than 500 good, clear, color photographs, the book focuses on the production and studio pottery of Denmark and Sweden. In both countries, notes the author, the distinction between production and studio pottery is far less clear cut than it is elsewhere, with the high quality of production items often barely distinguishable from that of studio work.

Surveyed are the major factories, workshops and studios most responsible for the clean, sophisticated forms and subtle glazes that characterize what has come to represent modernist ceramics. Presented as well are the later, neo-primitive forms and glazes, hearkening back to ancient Nordic tradition, and the result of deftly controlled raw energy and emotion.

In Sweden, we are introduced to the two dominant factories, Gustavsberg and Rorstrand. Beyond the ubiquitous and, here, barely mentioned "Argenta" line for Gustavsberg we are presented with the glorious forms and glazes of artists such as Josef Ekgerg, Wilhelm Kage, Berndt Friberg and Stig Lindberg. At Rorstrand we find the biomorphic forms of designers, Gunnar Nylund and Carl-Harry Stalhane, largely responsible for defining our perception and, to only a slightly lesser extent, the reality of the Scandinavian modernist movement. But we also visit the outstanding work of smaller, less well-known factories and independent workshops, such as Tobo, Uppsala-Ekeby, Hoganas and others.

Even greater breadth is seen in the output of Denmark. While dwarfed in size by Royal Copenhagen and Bing & Grøndahl, art pottery production extended to a number of smaller factories, like Kahler, Michael Andersen & Sons, Ipsen, Nymolle and Hjorth; independent workshops, like Saxbo, Palshus and Arnie Bang; and one-person studios, like Dahl Jensen and Jorgen Mogensen.

Throughout the book, the author gives us brief histories of the factories, and workshops, as well as background glimpses of many of their famous and not-so-famous ceramists and designers.

Particularly helpful to collectors, in addition to the photos of the pots themselves, are close-ups of many of the marks and signatures we can expect to find, together with dating for most. Designers, particularly the Danes, traveled freely among factories and between countries. Fortunately for us, their signatures seldom varied from place to place.

Also included is a price range for virtually every item shown. We suspect, however, that these prices will appear laughably low before long, as this volume spurs increased interest and demand for some of the world's finest pottery.

Author Hecht is a long-time dealer/collector of Scandinavian art pottery, author of articles on the subject for "Echoes" and "The Modernism Magazine," and a contributing member of the AAPA's on-line Art Pottery Discussion Group. She has long been urged by friends and associates to share her vast knowledge between the covers of an authoritative text. And this book is the welcome result.

In the author's words, it "is not intended to be comprehensive, but will serve as an introduction to some of the very fine pottery produced in Denmark and Sweden over the past one hundred years."

And a fine introduction it is. Well-researched and richly illustrated this book is destined to become "the bible" in the field. At least until Hecht brings us Book II!