Bjørn Wiinblad

Bjørn Wiinblad ( born September 20, 1918 in Copenhagen, Denmark, † June 8, 2006 in Lyngby ) was a Danish painter, designer, stage designer and visual artist.

Youth and Education

Bjørn Wiinblad was born in 1918 the son of a typographer, journalists and politicians in Copenhagen. As a youth, he illustrated his own poems, learned to play the piano with Louis Glass and flute. First Wiinblad attended a drawing school, after which he studied from 1940 to 1943 painting and illustration at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. During this time he came across his friend Richard for ceramics and worked with Lars Syberg. After completing his studies, Wiinblad earned doing odd jobs money to afford material for his work as a painter and designer can. He graduated in addition to studying nor an apprenticeship as a typographer.

Designs and works

1945 taught Wiinblad from his first exhibition. This is followed by orders for posters, book illustrations for 1001 and a theater decoration for Lysistrata. From 1945 Wiinblad works as a designer, from 1946 to 1956 as chief designer at the Associated Nymølle faience factory, in addition, he was from 1947 Poster design at the American Embassy in Paris, 1950 was followed by work for Marshal Plan in Paris. His work has been exhibited in museums soon.

In 1952 he opened his own workshop with 13 employees in a farmyard in Copenhagen, later he ran the factory "Blue Hus ( Blue House ) " in Copenhagen. He was represented by his works in museums in Denmark, Stockholm, Sweden, Germany and Italy, even in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. At Boston University, he was a professor of design. His first exhibition in New York in 1954 with Georg Jensen. It was followed by other exhibitions in the United States. Until recently, he presented the world each year up to 6 large solo exhibitions together. In 1956 his work for art industrial companies. Since 1957 Wiinblad was about 49 years chief designer of Rosenthal AG. When he brought his friend Gianni Versace for Rosenthal, these coined the phrase " Wiinblad is the Versace of the North".

From 1947 to 2006 Bjorn Wiinblad worked internationally as a costume and set designer. In 1957 he designed stage sets, costumes and decorations for the Royal Theatre Copenhagen. His textile designs were used for costumes several ballets and stage productions. The Nutcracker - posters, costumes and stage design by Wiinblad - was performed for 17 years in Copenhagen by Royal Ballet. They can be found in the Theatre Museum Copenhagen. Worth mentioning are the costumes and stage decorations from 1947 to Lysistrata, 1962 Undine, 1965 costumes for Shakespeare's The Tempest for the Dallas Theatre Center, 1969, the draft on behalf of Queen Margarete of Denmark for the Ballet Swineherd in Copenhagen ( the 70th birthday of King Frederik ), where illustrations of the same fairy tale the Swineherd by Hans Christian Andersen followed were that were implemented in 1974 in a short animated film. Especially also in 1971 costumes for John Cranko ballet The Lady and the Fool and Flemming were Flinths The Nutcracker at the Royal Theatre Copenhagen.

In addition, he designed numerous posters that were presented in solo exhibitions.

His oversized ceramics and tapestries can be found as hotel decorations in Japan and the United States, for example, the great Scheherazade tapestry for the Dallas World Trade Center or the establishment of the Flowerpot restaurants in 1978 in Chicago. He equipped 2000 Wiinblad restaurant at Hotel D' Angleterre in Copenhagen, also a restaurant in Tivoli, and in 2002 the cafeteria Rosenthal factory Rotbühl, Germany.

In recent years, from 1994 to 2006, the overall design of the "Luna Park" in Japan occupied him with three big stages, for which he created outdoor decorations, productions, costume and stage designs.

In 1971 he opened his own permantentes exhibition house, Bjørn Wiinblad Hus in Copenhagen. His residence and the factory "Blue Hus ( Blue House ) " in Lyngby he built 1994-2006 as a museum from.

Cooperation with stages

Since 1947 he designed decorations, costumes and stage sets. To be mentioned are:

Collaboration with Rosenthal

The productive collaboration between the free Bjørn Wiinblad and employees of Rosenthal AG in Selb began in 1957 and was - also by the personal friendship between Wiinblad and Philip Rosenthal ( † 2003) continued for nearly fifty years. The following community projects were implemented:

Above all the plates of the collection collections today have a high collector's value.

Art style and way of life

Indicative of Wiinblad works are vague outline drawn characters, remember their big, round faces with googly eyes and pointed noses of children's drawings. They are often shown in a similar nature but fabulous environment with delicate vines, frame imaging wreaths of flowers and stylized trees. If Wiinblad use color, so they are strong and rich, sometimes almost psychedelic and often framed or accented with shiny metallic gold or silver tones.

The diversity of Wiinblad designs - ceramics, cutlery, stage decor, costumes, furniture, textiles, figurines, ceramic wall coverings, tapestries, stained glass, fountains, gardens, BBQ tables, posters, book illustrations, works in silver, bronze and glass - was also found in his private interests: During his work in the studio classical music was mandatory. Wiinblad was a cavalry, drove fast cars, collected exotic art objects, played the piano, was an imaginative cook and entertained friends and relatives often with invitations. Besides his native Danish Wiinblad was fluent in German and English. Headquartered with studio and workshop had Wiinblad in Blå Hus ( Blue House ) in Kongens Lyngby, where single-minded in his way of working artist, his designs often brought to an end without regard to day or night time and in which even today (2010 ) nor according to his designs porcelain is produced. In Switzerland he had residences in Schaffhausen ( on horses Forest) and a studio in Lausanne. During the collaboration with Rosenthal he had a studio to an apartment in Salzburg, a cottage on Ærø and a weekend house in Asserbo in Selb.

Exhibitions

In the 1950s and 1960s Wiinblad graphic work in Europe, the U.S. ( for the first time in 1954 ), Japan, Australia and Canada ( 1968) were shown. Museums around the world unable to show his works, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London; the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Museum in Stockholm and the Museum of Decorative Arts ( Kunstindustrimuseet ) in Copenhagen.

Selected Exhibitions:

Awards

Quotes

Bjørn Wiinblad about yourself:

"I work almost day and night, and I do it for my life happy. "

"I 'm a runaway dilettante. "

"I 'm doing just things that I myself need."

Bibliography

• Rosenthal myths, fairy tales and music - Bjørn Wiinblad tribute, Selb (2007)
• Mel Byars Design Encyclopedia Klinkhardt & Biermann, Munich ( 1994), p 590
• Thomas Heider, Markus Stegmann, René Zey Lexicon International Design, Rowohlt (1994 ), pp. 362-363
• Bernd Fritz The porcelain crockery of the Rosenthal Group - 1891-1979, Stuttgart (1989 ), pp. 47-48