Gunnar Aagaard Andersen
Gunnar Aagaard Andersen (1919 - 1982) was a Danish sculptor, artist, painter, sculptor and graphic designer who was also active in the fields of architecture and interior design. Aagaard Andersen belonged to the Scandinavian avant-garde and his designs can be assigned to the style of the Concrete Art movement. They are regarded as pioneers and the basis for the designs of many artists and designers. Designer. Today, Gunnar Aagaard Andersen's designs are represented in renowned design collections and are exhibited in museums worldwide, including Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA.
Geometric patterns and color theory
Gunnar Aagaard Andersen's work is characterized by his research attitude, which persisted throughout his entire creative period. Aagaard Andersen studied the laws of science and explored the resulting possibilities for design and art. Andersen drew and formed pictures and sculptures that were made up of many identical, sometimes graphic elements. As early as the late 1940s/early 1950s, Andersen was already drawing patterns composed of geometric shapes and studying color theory - long before some of his compatriots jumped on the bandwagon.
Sculptural chairs
As a visual artist, sculptural forms were one of Aagaard Andersen's particular strengths. The Dane experimented with paper that could be bent, folded and torn and initially used these techniques in paintings. In 1952, he formed a sitting sculpture out of wire, which depicted the negative form of his own backside as a seated person, and covered this framework with pieces of paper from a daily newspaper. This form invention of a so-called 'cantilever chair' was based on the principle of papier-mâché, which was often used for the production of models and played a similarly important role at the time as plastics do today. This chair, which Aagaard Andersen did not name, was completed in 1953 and presented at exhibitions and in the magazine 'mobilia'. It is immortalized in the book "1000 Chairs" by Charlotte and Peter Fiell, among others. Here it says, quote: "Prototype made of wire mesh and newspaper, to be made of pressed aluminum or fiberglass-reinforced plastic." The shape was so new that Aagaard Andersen's compatriot Poul Kjaerholm interpreted it with his own chair design. It is part of the collection of the Danish National Museum, which represents Denmark's cultural history.
"Portrait of My Mother's Chesterfield Chair"
Gunnar Aagaard Andersen worked tirelessly and went beyond the boundaries of traditional fine art. In the 1960s, Aagaard Andersen discovered the material polyurethane and used it to create the armchair "Portrait of My Mother's Chesterfield Chair", an unconventional armchair, which was completed in 1964 and is exhibited at MoMA and elsewhere.
Aagaard Andersen and other artists, Designer and architects
Aagaard Andersen was popular on the art scene and was acquainted with a large number of architects, designers and artists. As a founder and member of several artist movements, the designers of his time were in and out of his studio and home, Munkeruphus in the Danish coastal town of Dronningmølle-Hornbæk. The area in the northern region of Zeeland had been a popular summer retreat for Danish artists and Designer since the 1930s. The architect and Designer PoulHenningsen also had a summer house here. And Verner Panton, who was married to Henningsen's stepdaughter in 1950, later bought a summer house in Hornbæk.
Danish design scene in the 1950s
And at the Danish fabric manufacturer Unika-Væv, whose logo Aagaard Andersen designed and where he worked as a graphic designer, among other things, the threads of the Danish design scene came together from the 1950s onwards. In 1955, Aagaard Andersen designed the logo for the Danish design magazine 'mobilia', which mainly dealt with furniture, but also interior design, architecture and art. He presented some of his designs here and worked for the magazine until his death. 'Letters', probably Aagaard Andersen's best-known fabric design, was also created in 1955.
