V I C K E L I N D ST R A N D RHYTHMS
Vicke Lindstrand & Engraver Tage Cronqvist, n.d.
Pearl Diver , 1939, Orrefors. h. 34cm. Hand blown. Wheel Engraving. Engraved by master glass worker Emil Goldman. Engraver’s inscription; EG. Manufacturer’s paper label.
When looking at the works of Vicke Lindstrand, one cannot help but notice the rhythmic flows contained within them. Swaying lines are embedded within the glass, creating abstract illustrations that hint to certain environments and surroundings. Upon closer inspection, beyond the more immediate beats, one can find rhythms at the very heart of Lindstrand’s oeuvre through a career spanning over fifty years. These are the rhythms found in the glassblowing factory, but also those found in music, poetry and art, in the pulsations of the city and in the movements of the natural world. Jacksons is pleased to present a digital rendering of Lindstrand’s work, showcasing some of his most important glass designs. All works are for sale and are available to be shipped internationally. Visit our website for more examples of Lindstrand’s work, including glass, ceramics and textiles. » jacksons.se
Orrefors A few years after Orrefors’ success story at the 1925 Paris Exposition. The factory in Småland in the south of Sweden led by the sensational duo Simon Gate and Edward Hald had put the country on the map for glass design through their invention of innovative new techniques, such as Graal and Orrefors engraving.
1928 —
The factory hired Lindstrand as part of their revolutionary artist-working-industry scheme. Lindstrand, whose background was in illustration, adapted to Orrefors’ unique environment, in which engravers, glassblowers, laborers and artists collaborated to create glass pieces. Lindstrand’s approach to glass was striking. Each design was made meticulously as a result of the expertise and close collaboration within the factory. Lindstrand’s signature style from this period will remain forever part of Swedish design history, distinctively revealing the intrinsic, poetic qualities of glass, while also experimenting with optic blow, engraving and neoclassical references.
‘My respect for the knowledge of craftsmen is endless’ - Lindstrand, 1932
By the red furnace stands Apollo mute, Holding in upraised hands His iron flute. Slowly from back and brow The bright sweat drips; He sets the clarion now Light to his lips, And ever, as he blows, Without a sound His molten music flows, Golden and round.
- The Glassblower (1941) Jan Struther [Joyce Anstruther]
Ink on paper, Vicke Lindstrand, 1930s
Adam & Eve , 1939, Orrefors. h. 17.5cm. Ariel technique. Signed, numbered and dated (1939)
Ariel
The Ariel technique represents the pinnacle of glass mastery, achievable only through a combination of patience, skill and collaboration. The result is a technique that provides an unparalleled level of depth, with motifs that appear to flow and float inside the Ariel glass to create miniature worlds of mystery and magic.
1936 —
From its very beginning, this technique relied on team effort, originally developed by Edvin Öhrström in tandem with glassblower Gustaf Bergqvist and Lindstrand. It is a continuation of the Graal technique where a piece of glass is built up by several layers of molten glass, then carved, shaped and finally encased in clear glass. With the Ariel technique, which is named after the God of Wind in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, additional life is blown into the piece through the creation of air bubbles that become trapped inside the design. The most well-known designers working with the Ariel technique during this time were Öhrström and Lindstrand.
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Zodiac , 1939, Orrefors. h. 20.5cm. Ariel technique. Signed, numbered and dated (1939)
Manhattan , 1950s, Kosta. h. 39cm. Wheel Engraving. Signed & Numbered.
New York
1939 —
As part of the New York World’s Fair, Lindstrand designed Monumental Fountain, one of the fair’s largest glass fountains to date. This fair across the Atlantic was the source of endless inspiration for Lindstrand: the city of New York that was brimming with new artistic languages within the realms of jazz music, poetry and visual arts, playing with different colours and methods. Buzzing with new ideas and creativity, Lindstrand started working with Kosta Glassworks in 1950, a leading glass producer where he was able to express himself freely, working experimentally with glass.
Monumental Fountain , Vicke Lindstrand, New York, 1939.
Vase , 1950s, Kosta. h.19cm. Signed & Numbered
Abstracta , 1950s, Kosta. h.30cm. Signed & Numbered
Trees in Mist , 1950s, Kosta. h.32.5cm. Signed & Numbered
Trees
1951 —
As with nature, Lindstrand’s trees are never twice the same. The series of vases he started making in the early 1950s can be seen as moments of frozen devotion, depicting falling leaves, misty mornings and crisp blue skies. By looking at the growth of forests and the changing seasons, the artist was drawn to nature’s pluralism, in particular the unique quality of Scandinavian woodlands. Emblematic within Lindtrand’s oeuvre, his tree vases encapsulate depth and fine detailing and evoke the natural rhythms of his homeland.
Autumn Vase , 1950s, Kosta. h.21cm. Signed & Numbered
So we turn back through to the forest walk among trees with long blue needles It’s silent here Like the silence when the hawk nears These are woods that forgive everything but forget nothing - Molokai (1983) [Det vilda torget] Tomas Tranströmer
Winter Vase , 1950s, Kosta. h.22cm. Signed & Numbered
Strömfiskaren [‘The Angler’], 1950s. h. 25cm. Blown glass vase, wheel engraved motif. Inscribed ‘Kosta LG 154’ to base.
Stockholm
When Lindstrand made Strömfiskaren, there were almost fifty registered lift net boats in Strömmen [‘The Stream of Stockholm’], the innermost part of Lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The boats had made a comeback during the World Wars, supplying fish to the city.
1955 —
At the beginning of the 18th century, people stood tightly along the city quays in Stockholm, nets in their hands and fishing from the shore, catching migratory fish swimming against the flow leading to Lake Mälaren. Soon enough, boats took over, as fishermen started to haul directly from the source. Today, there are only three boats remaining, as a result of fewer fish species and changing behaviours.
Cavemen Vase , 1950s, Kosta. h.18cm. Signed & Numbered
Cavemen
Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the rock carvings in Tanum in southwest Sweden represent thousands of petroglyphs along a twenty-five kilometer stretch, originally the coastline of a fjord during the Bronze Age.
1957 —
Inspired by Tanum, Lindstrand created the Cavemen series. Treating glass like a modernist canvas, he approached each piece as unique by carving his glyphs like how petroglyphs are made. Through images of animals, boats and hunters, he illustrates long lost communities from prehistoric Scandinavian times. Carved imagery, the surface quality of rock, solidity and weight; these are the details that define this series.
Rock car vings, Tannum, Sweden, 2000 BC.
Victor Emanuel “ Vicke” Lindstrand (1904-1983) 1904 - Born in Gothenburg, Sweden 1918 -1927 Studies in Painting and Drawing, Slöjdföreningen Göteborg & study trips to Italy and France 1920 - 1928 Advertisement Painter and Cartoonist at newspapers e.g. GöteborgsPosten 1928 - 1940 Orrefors 1928 - Vicke Startar starts collaborating with textile pioneer Elsa Gullberg 1930 - Stockholm Exhibition, Vicke shows his Orrefors glass designs to an international audience for the first time 1937 - Ariel is introduced at Orrefors. Lindstrand also articipates in the 1937 Paris Exposition designing Tekniken och Framtiden. 1939 - Public Sculpture, Monumental Fountain , New York World Fair, New York 1942 - 1950 Upsala Ekeby 1944 - Part of the exhibition of ceramics ‘Ekeby av idag’ at Gävle Ar t Museum, Sweden. Vicke also designs all textiles including the drop curtain at Malmö Theatre, Malmö Stadsteater. 1950 - 1973 Kosta 1951 - Exhibition at NK in Stockholm showing Trees in Mist, Colora and new engraving techniques. Vases from the exhibition were also shown at the IX Milan Triennal. 1953 - Large exhibition of Lindstrand’s vases, in Copenhagen at Illums Bolighus 1954 - Major exhibitions including Lindstrand’s glass works, the traveling international exhibition 1954-57, starting at Virginia Art Museum, Design in Scandinavia , and Svenskt glas 1954, Nationalmuseum. The same year Lindstrand collabrates with Bruno Mathsson, decorating a Mathsson designed exhibition hall of glas in Kosta, Sweden. 1955 - Sweden’s largest industrial exposition H55 showing Lindstrand’s Kosta glass 1957 - Exhibits at Nordiska Kompaniet in Stockholm, Bonniers in New York and Milan XI Triennale 1958 - DH 58’ exhibition at Brooklyn Musuem, New York 1959 - Large exhibition at Lund Konsthall, Kosta glas i går och i dag , with glass by Ollers, Bergh, Lindstrand, and Schildt.
1960 - Exhibitions at Museum fur Kunst & Gewerbe in Hamburg, Nordiska Mseet in Stockholm and in New York 1964 - Public Sculpture, Ikaros Nadel, Stuttgart, Germany 1967 - Public Sculpture, Prisma, Norrköping, Sweden 1969 - Major exhibition of Lindstrand’s works at Nordiska Kompaniet, Glasklart 1970 - Public Sculpture, Grön Eld, Umeå, Sweden 1977 - 1983 Studio Glashyt tan Åhus 1978 - Public Sculpture, Legend i Glas, Växjö 1980 - Major retrospective exhibition at Smålands Museum, Vicke Lindstrand - 52 år i glaskonstens tjänst, ett av den svenska glaskonstens mest självlysande namn 1983 - Lindstrand passes away, 79 years old. 1996 - The Brilliance of Swedish Glass 1918–1939 - An Alliance of Art and Industr y , exhibition and publication at Bard New York 2004 - Major retrospective exhibition Legend i glas - 100 years at Röhsska, Gothenburg, Sweden Lindstrand’s works are found in private and public collections worldwide, museums include; British Museum Cooper Hewitt Cleveland museum of art Corning Museum of Glass Halland Museum Har vard Art Museum Houston Museum of Fine Arts Orrefors Museum Nationalmuseum Metropolitan Museum Memphis Brooks Museum Museum of New Zeeland MoMA
Röhsska Museum Smålands Museum/ Swedish Glass Museum Sörmlands Museum Philadelphia Museum of Ar t Victoria and Albert Museum
Bibliography
Legend i Glas , Lars Thor, Liber Förlag 1982 Vicke Lindstrand on the Peripher y , Mark Ian Jones, Uppsala Universit y Librar y, 2016 Vicke Lindstrand 100 år , Per Berg, Axplock förlag, 2004 Stora boken om Upsala-Ekeby, 1940-1978 , Magnus Palm, Egmont Publishing, 2018 Orrefors 100 år , Nationalmuseum, 1998 Orrefors etthundra år av svensk glaskonst , Kerstin Wickman and authors, Byggförlaget Kultur, 1998 The Brilliance of Swedish Grace 1918-1939 - an alliance of art and industr y, Yale Universit y Press, 1996 Kosta 250: 1742-1992, 250 years of Craftmanship, Margaretha Arteus (ed.), Kosta, 1992 Svenskt Glas 1915-1960, Nationalmuseum, 1987 Photo Index p. 5 p. 14-15 p.19 p. 32 p.33 p.39 p.44 p.48-49 p.57 p.64-65 p.75
Vicke Lindstrand and Tage Cronqvist, Vicke Lindstrand Stiftelsen (inactive) Glasswork in Småland, 1941, photo by J.E Anderbjörk, Växjö Museum, CC Public Domain 1.0 Employees at Orrefors, drawing by Vicke Lindstrand, Smålands Museum, CC BY 4.0 Streetview from New York, photo by G W Gullers, Nordiska Museet, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Vicke Lindstrand, Ett bildverk om Småland , photo by Erik Liljeroth, Nordiska Museet, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Vicke Lindstrand in New York with his 3m high chr ystal glass fountain, 1939. Courtesy of Svensk Form Archive Detail of Neon Pillars , photo by Leporté, CC BY 2.0 Detail of Homage a Amancio Williams, photo by Fofe, CC BY 2.0 Maple leaves (cut image), photo by Hayata, CC BY 2.0 One t wo trees, photo by Per Nordgren, Courtesy of Per Nordgren View from Blasieholmen in Stockholm, photo by Karl Heinz Hernried, Nordiska Museet, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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