FINN JUHL 1912-1989 Rare and important chair, m

Exhibited
Cabinetmaker's Guild Exhibition, Copenahgen, 1944

Literature
Juhl Memorial, exh. cat., Tokyo, 1990, pp. 40-41; Esbjørn Hiort, Finn Juhl, Copenhagen, 1990, p. 34;
Arne Karlsen, Dansk Mobel Kunst No.2, Copenhagen, 1993, p. 113;
Noritsugu Oda, Danish Chairs, San Francisco, 1996, p. 84 and back cover;
Charlotte and Peter Fiell, Scandinavian Design, Cologne, 2002, p. 328

Finn Juhl was so moved by Erik Gunnar Asplund's designs for the 1930 Stockholm Exhibition that he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Arts in Copenhagen to study architecture. After practicing architecture for 11 years, Juhl established a design practice, specializing in furniture and interiors. Juhl's designs were so successful that he won five gold medals at the Milan Triennale exhibitions from 1954 to 1957. As an instructor at the School of Interior Design in Copenhagen he played an integral role in determining the course of Danish design.

Juhl's designs are influenced by abstract organic sculpture as well as traditional Scandinavian furniture like that of Kaare Klint. His modern renditions of time-honored forms signaled an important turn for Danish design toward more sculptural and organic shapes. The present lot celebrates Juhl's technical virtuosity of construction as well as the bold forms for which he is known. This chair is a masterpiece of the Scandinavian modern movement; in combining new and elegant shapes with time-honored furniture-making techniques, Finn Juhl's model no. NV44 chair of 1944 defines mid-century modern Danish design.

This chair was one of four mahogany examples shown at the 1944 Cabinetmaker's Guild Exhibition.