“Mid-Century Modern” at Vesterheim: Tabletop Norwegian Design

By Kate Martinson

For those who have an interest in good design, the middle of the 20th century was an explosive era. Though breakthrough design was being practiced in many places, Scandinavia became the epicenter of taste and production. Teak, enamel, pewter, glass, woven linen, and other materials were transformed into sleek, simple, practical yet stunning objects that continue to demand attention up to fifty years later. A quick check on websites such as Ebay and Etsy, or visits to antique shops will provide one with a sampling of beautiful pieces with escalating prices.

The strong Mid-century Design environment was created in Scandinavia from a preserved and active craft tradition. Norway possessed strong pride in the handmade and this was represented by such organizations as the familiar Husflid shops and the Folkehøgskule, or folk high school movement.

Scandinavia also flourished under the influences of an industrially oriented European design environment. Influential groups included the German Bauhaus and Dutch De Stijl, both of which were powerful between the two World Wars. Norway was well aware of international tastes and skillful, beautiful industrial design, and often won awards for exceptional work. Add to that the economic, social, and physical disruption of World War II in Scandinavia, and a climate of high quality experimentation formed. Finally, the end of German occupation provided a need for consumer goods, jobs, and an optimistic, new beginning that Norway embraced energetically.

The reputations of the other Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland are more widely known world-wide. The chief cause for this was the concentration

Grette Prytz Kittelsen, “The Queen of Scandinavian Design,” was no stranger to fine metalwork and enamel. She was in the fifth generation of jewelers in the Tostrup family, founders of J Tostrup in 1832. Her forbears were already well known in Europe for fine design and craftsmanship. She brought a mid-century eye and a willingness to explore materials to her work, starting in the business in 1945. Among other things, she developed sturdier enamel, lighter metals such as stainless steel, lighter pieces, new engraving techniques under enamel, and more reasonable prices. Her original iconic “Lotus” designs in kitchenware are commanding both high attention and high prices in the design world today. They were made in Halden by the Cathrineholm factory, where she was a contract designer from 1955 to 1972. Less well known, and with a more subtle look, are her holloware table pieces, with engraved effects, transparent glaze, and refracted light-creating texture and patterns. These were made at both Cathrineholm and J Tostrup. She always maintained a studio for her own metal work in tableware and jewelry.

[Bowl] Vesterheim 2013.044.005—Gift of Kate Martinson. [Casserole] Vesterheim 2013.044.003—Gift of Kate Martinson. [Plate] Vesterheim 2013.045.005—Gift of Heyn Kjerulf.

these countries had on the export of their fine-quality design objects, beginning in the 1950s and continuing today. In Norway there were different economic considerations. The discovery of Norwegian oil in the 1960s lessened the need to emphasize export goods and therefore lessened some of the reputation world-wide. However, the Norwegians continued to design, produce, and win international recognition.

Currently a touring exhibition, Norwegian Icons: Important Norwegian Design from the Era 1940-1975, with venues in Oslo, Tokyo, and New York, showcases the large talent active during the middle of the twentieth century. For those unable to view it first hand, Flugen, the Norwegian design firm that curated and sponsored the show, has made it available online (http://www.norwegianicons.com).

Two of the featured designers in this influential Flugen show are Grete Prytz Kittelsen and Erik Pløen. Not surprisingly, their work is also found in Vesterheim’s collections, as are pieces created by many other talented Norwegians. The items featured in this article were typically found or used on a table, but Vesterheim’s collections of textiles, clothing, jewelry, and furniture, include other midcentury treasures as well.

In this collection of photographs even readers without a passion for, or knowledge of, design will find some of these objects familiar and pleasing. They have been placed in countless shops, magazine articles, and museums. Importantly, from the mid-1950s until today they have been packed into the suitcases of countless travelers coming to North America from Norway. As a result, these treasures decorated many homes on this side of the Atlantic. They have silently decorated rooms with style, changed our taste, and modified what “made in Norway” actually meant.

One of the most well known mid-century Norwegian potters was Erik Pløen (1925 - 2004). He opened his personal pottery studio in Hedemark a year after the Occupation ended in 1946. It was known as a studio in which he did all of the processes himself. A winner of many international honors, he also was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, where he experimented with local clay. This vase is an excellent example of his hand throwing, carving, and personal glaze recipes.

Vesterheim 1990.129.002—Gift of Marian and Charles Gulbransen.

This evocative block-printed short runner, or placemat, is plainly woven of linen yarn. “Hyndtrykk Norge” is printed on the piece to identify it as being hand-printed in Norway. Flat, simple shapes with patterned areas in a limited color palette make the design approach similar to other printed mid-century fabric from Norway and the rest of Scandinavia. While the stylized scene evokes the picturesque harbor in Bergen, this type of Hanseatic storehouse scene on water can be found in other harbors as well. Modern, picturesque textiles like this would have appealed to Norwegians and tourists alike.

Vesterheim 2010.404.001—Gift of Swedish American Museum.

Graveren, translated from the Norwegian as gravedigger, was founded as a brickworks, but transitioned to a maker of brownishred pottery in 1926. This bowl shows the elegant restraint often seen mid-century, with a beautiful form and simple, though striking, use of highly contrasting glaze. The midcentury work of Graveren can also reflect a simplified floral or figurative tradition, often with white glaze dominating the piece.

Since 1885, the Telemark factory Porsgrund Porcelænsfabrik has been producing some of Norway’s most remarkably fine porcelain in traditionally patterned pieces. They also produce objects representing the best art and design of the artistic period in which they are created. These “tidbit” plates designed by Odegaard and Galaan combine traditional poetry and Porsgrund’s steadfast blue-on-white coloring with Mid-century Design and function. The small plates were useful Norwegian mid-century cocktailparty accessories, perhaps to hold nuts, olives, or ashes. They were sold as a boxed set of three with a poem, titled “Old Story,” about Adam and Eve. Each dish illustrates a stanza of the poem:

Modern Adam, modern Eve Seventeen, they’ll never grieve Age of luck and love forever Growing older? Never, never

Modern Adam, modern Eve Life has pretty much to give Making children, home, career Getting richer year by year

Poor old Adam, poor old Eve Soon they must prepare to leave Leaving proudly to their nation A large increase in population

Young Adam and Eve. Vesterheim 2013.044.001—Gift of Kate/Kathleen Martinson. Adam and Eve with one child. Vesterheim 2000.073.003.1—Gift of Mr. and Mrs John Sweeney and Josephine Mortenson. Old Adam and Eve. Vesterheim 2000.073.003.2—Gift of Mr. and Mrs John Sweeney and Josephine Mortenson. Production at Elle Keramikk near Oslo lasted from 1942 to 1967 and was characterized by a red-colored earthenware made from a clay containing a large amount of ferrous oxide. Often a modernized folkloric and geometric look is seen in addition to the figurative work of stylized people or animals such as the mythic polar bear. In addition, their pieces featured sgraffito, which in pottery is a way of layering glazes and allowing them to dry. A pointed tool then scratches through the last layer to create a recess showing the color that lies underneath. This provides expressive detail as well as strong, fine texture depending on the design.

Plate with central flower. Vesterheim 1986.130.013—Gift of Marian Gulbransen. Bear bowl/plate Vesterheim 2013.044.0.04—Gift of Kate Martinson.

About the Author Kate Martinson is an Emeritus Professor of Art at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, where she taught art education and many types of fiber arts classes from weaving to papermaking. In study-abroad classes she has taken students to sites from Hawaii to Russia and spent a semester leading Luther College’s Scandinavia and Baltic Program. Since 1974, Scandinavia—Norway in particular—has been her major research area and she is especially interested in both folk art and twentieth-century design. Kate is very active in professional and artistic endeavors at the local, state, and national levels. She has introduced old techniques such as nålbinding, natural dyes, and felting to many American fiber artists and has taught numerous textile-related classes throughout the United States, and in Norway at Rauland Academy.