Modern & Contemporary Sale
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To be sold at Uppsala Auktionskammare’s Important Sale: Modern & Contemporary 9 – 10 November 2022
Lot 168 Axel Einar Hjorth (1888-1959). Vilstol. ”Skoga”. Nordiska Kompaniet 1930-tal. Linoljebränd och borstad furu med järnsmidda beslag. Sittplymå och nackkudde i originalklädsel. Nedmonterbar. H 97 cm.
Modellen formgiven 1933.
A rare Axel Einar Hjorth ”Skoga” charred pine chair, Nordiska Kompaniet 1930s. Height 97 cm.
Designed in 1933, this rare demountable model executed in charred pine comes with original upholstery on the seat and neck pillow.
Katalog, NK:s Sommarkatalog 1934 över Trädgårdsmöbler, 1934, modellen avbildad (opaginerad).
Even though he held perhaps the most important position a Swedish furniture designer could during the interwar period, the one as chief architect at Nordiska Kompaniet in Stockholm between 1927-1938, Axel Einar Hjorth’s contribution to Swedish design history remained marginalized for a long time. His frequent participation at important fairs and exhibitions as well as the company’s extensive furniture production had long been sidelined or even unmentioned in Swedish design literature. Today, Axel Einar Hjorth’s original and ingenious designs has placed him alongside contemporaries such as Josef Frank, Estrid Ericson, Bruno Mathsson and Carl Malmsten as one of Sweden’s most important designers during the 20th century.
In the late 1920s, as newly passed laws had entitled workers to longer holidays, people acquired summer homes – sportstugor – and a demand for furniture fitting the ideals of healthy leisure time arised. Hjorth heeded the call and presented the Sandhamn series in 1929. The demand increased, leading Hjorth to design several series in stained pine during the subsequent years, such as Utö, Lovö and Skoga.
Skoga is a rare model equally marketed as garden furniture due to them being foldable and hence suitable for easy storage during the winter season. In this sale, Uppsala Auktionskammare proudly presents an extremely rare and iconic chair from the Skoga series, designed in 1933. One out of four known examples of this model to ever reach the market, the chair comes with original upholstery on the seat and neck pillow. ■