GEORG JENSEN
Name: Georg Arthur Jensen
Born: 31 august 1866
Died: 2 October 1935
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 & Grandahl 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 revivify 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.
Name: Georg Arthur Jensen
Born: 31 august 1866
Died: 2 October 1935
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 & Grandahl 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 revivify 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.