Finn Juhl Follow Important and early 'Chieftain' armchair, model no. FJ 49 A designed 1949, produced early 1950s Bangkok teak, leather 93.3 x 103 x 89 cm. (36 3/4 x 40 1/2 x 35 in.) Executed by master cabinetmaker Niels Vodder, Copenhagen, Denmark. Underside branded and impressed NIELS VODDER CABINETMAKER/COPENHAGEN DENMARK . Designed in 1949, produced in early 1950s.
Provenance Private Collection, Copenhagen, early 1950s Literature G.B. De Searpis, 'Finn Juhl, architetto danese', Domus , nos. 252-53, November-December 1950, p. 23 Nona Triennale di Milano , exh. cat., Milan, 1951, p. 443 Svend Erik Møller and Viggo Sten Møller Dansk Møbelkunst, Københavns snedkerlaugs møbeludstilling 1927-1951 , Copenhagen, 1951, p. 82 Bent Salicath, ‘Finn Juhl and Danish Furniture’, Architects’ Year Book 6 , London, 1955, pp. 145-46, 155 Esbjørn Hiort Modern Danish Furniture , New York, 1956, pp. 54-55 Niels Vodder Furniture , Copenhagen, 1959, front cover, pp. 10-11 Eva Hamilton, 'Modern design iG Gammal miljö', Svensk DAM , no. 11, 18 March, 1964, p. 41 Grete Jalk ed., Dansk Møbelkunst gennem 40 aar, Volume 3: 1947-1956 , Copenhagen, 1987, pp. 124-25, 233, 311 Patricia Yamada, ed., Finn Juhl Memorial Exhibition , exh. cat., Osaka, 1990, passim Esbjørn Hiort Finn Juhl Furniture, Architecture, Applied Art , Copenhagen, 1990, front cover, pp. 23, 40-41 Martin Eidelberg, ed., Design 1935-1965: What Modern Was , New York, 1991, p. 187 Irene de Guttry and Maria Paola Maino, Il Mobile Italiano Degli Anni '40 e '50 , Bari, 1992, p. 47 Noritsugu Oda, Danish Chairs , San Francisco, 1996, pp. 92-93 Arne Karlsen Danish Furniture Design: in the 20th Century, Volume 2 , Copenhagen, 2007, pp. 106, 187-89 Per H. Hansen Finn Juhl and His House , Ostfildern, 2014, passim Catalogue Essay In 1949 Finn Juhl designed the model ‘FJ 49 A’ armchair, which became primarily known as the ‘Chieftain’, a title rarely used by the architect as he referred to it as the ‘Big Chair’. When interviewed in 1981, by the Danish journalist Mike Rømer for ‘Space and Form’, about the ‘Chieftain’ Juhl reminisced over its moniker and revealed the following story: “King Frederik and Queen Ingrid used to be good enough to come and open our exhibitions, and afterwards they would make a round of the stands. When a journeyman cabinetmaker came in carrying the ‘Chair’, someone asked me what it was for. Jokingly I said it was for King Frederik. We quickly realized that we could neither call it the ‘King Chair’ nor the ‘King Frederik Chair’. The King had never requested this of us, and besides, we had never asked him. So I passed it off by saying it was for an African chief- and the name stuck with it. As a matter of fact, a photograph was taken of King Frederik in the chair”… The ‘Chieftain’ when first exhibited at the Cabinetmakers’ Guild was well received and described in Politiken as being ‘so full of life that it seems to be almost quivering with vitality. It is expensive and as delicate as a thoroughbred must be.’ Finn Juhl designed some of his finest cabinet made furniture for the Cabinetmakers’ Guild and the ‘Chieftain’ must be considered one of his most accomplished designs. Almost every year from the late 1930s to the early 1950s Juhl presented designs at the Cabinetmakers’ Guild that were executed by the master cabinetmaker Niels Vodder. The synergy and symbiosis of these two artistic characters created masterpieces of 20th century design. In discussing the master cabinetmaker Niels Vodder, the Danish architectural journalist Henrik Sten Møller refers to the cabinetmaker as an ‘original craftsman with a distinct sense of humour.’ He then goes further to explain possibly why Vodder would have ever agreed to collaborate with Juhl: ‘The reason why Niels Vodder became Finn Juhl’s cabinetmaker was that nobody else wanted to produce his furniture. They thought the furniture too strange and furthermore often technically complicated’ (Patricia Yamada, ed., Finn Juhl Memorial Exhibition, exh. cat., Osaka, 1990, p. 18). Although the collaboration between Juhl, then aged twenty-five, and Vodder began in 1937, it was not until the breakthrough period of 1944-1949 at the Cabinetmakers’ Guild in which Juhl began to incorporate his burgeoning organic and percipient approach towards furniture design. Professor Noritsuga Oda writes in his essay ‘My Recoll
Finn Juhl Follow Important and early 'Chieftain' armchair, model no. FJ 49 A designed 1949, produced early 1950s Bangkok teak, leather 93.3 x 103 x 89 cm. (36 3/4 x 40 1/2 x 35 in.) Executed by master cabinetmaker Niels Vodder, Copenhagen, Denmark. Underside branded and impressed NIELS VODDER CABINETMAKER/COPENHAGEN DENMARK . Designed in 1949, produced in early 1950s.
Provenance Private Collection, Copenhagen, early 1950s Literature G.B. De Searpis, 'Finn Juhl, architetto danese', Domus , nos. 252-53, November-December 1950, p. 23 Nona Triennale di Milano , exh. cat., Milan, 1951, p. 443 Svend Erik Møller and Viggo Sten Møller Dansk Møbelkunst, Københavns snedkerlaugs møbeludstilling 1927-1951 , Copenhagen, 1951, p. 82 Bent Salicath, ‘Finn Juhl and Danish Furniture’, Architects’ Year Book 6 , London, 1955, pp. 145-46, 155 Esbjørn Hiort Modern Danish Furniture , New York, 1956, pp. 54-55 Niels Vodder Furniture , Copenhagen, 1959, front cover, pp. 10-11 Eva Hamilton, 'Modern design iG Gammal miljö', Svensk DAM , no. 11, 18 March, 1964, p. 41 Grete Jalk ed., Dansk Møbelkunst gennem 40 aar, Volume 3: 1947-1956 , Copenhagen, 1987, pp. 124-25, 233, 311 Patricia Yamada, ed., Finn Juhl Memorial Exhibition , exh. cat., Osaka, 1990, passim Esbjørn Hiort Finn Juhl Furniture, Architecture, Applied Art , Copenhagen, 1990, front cover, pp. 23, 40-41 Martin Eidelberg, ed., Design 1935-1965: What Modern Was , New York, 1991, p. 187 Irene de Guttry and Maria Paola Maino, Il Mobile Italiano Degli Anni '40 e '50 , Bari, 1992, p. 47 Noritsugu Oda, Danish Chairs , San Francisco, 1996, pp. 92-93 Arne Karlsen Danish Furniture Design: in the 20th Century, Volume 2 , Copenhagen, 2007, pp. 106, 187-89 Per H. Hansen Finn Juhl and His House , Ostfildern, 2014, passim Catalogue Essay In 1949 Finn Juhl designed the model ‘FJ 49 A’ armchair, which became primarily known as the ‘Chieftain’, a title rarely used by the architect as he referred to it as the ‘Big Chair’. When interviewed in 1981, by the Danish journalist Mike Rømer for ‘Space and Form’, about the ‘Chieftain’ Juhl reminisced over its moniker and revealed the following story: “King Frederik and Queen Ingrid used to be good enough to come and open our exhibitions, and afterwards they would make a round of the stands. When a journeyman cabinetmaker came in carrying the ‘Chair’, someone asked me what it was for. Jokingly I said it was for King Frederik. We quickly realized that we could neither call it the ‘King Chair’ nor the ‘King Frederik Chair’. The King had never requested this of us, and besides, we had never asked him. So I passed it off by saying it was for an African chief- and the name stuck with it. As a matter of fact, a photograph was taken of King Frederik in the chair”… The ‘Chieftain’ when first exhibited at the Cabinetmakers’ Guild was well received and described in Politiken as being ‘so full of life that it seems to be almost quivering with vitality. It is expensive and as delicate as a thoroughbred must be.’ Finn Juhl designed some of his finest cabinet made furniture for the Cabinetmakers’ Guild and the ‘Chieftain’ must be considered one of his most accomplished designs. Almost every year from the late 1930s to the early 1950s Juhl presented designs at the Cabinetmakers’ Guild that were executed by the master cabinetmaker Niels Vodder. The synergy and symbiosis of these two artistic characters created masterpieces of 20th century design. In discussing the master cabinetmaker Niels Vodder, the Danish architectural journalist Henrik Sten Møller refers to the cabinetmaker as an ‘original craftsman with a distinct sense of humour.’ He then goes further to explain possibly why Vodder would have ever agreed to collaborate with Juhl: ‘The reason why Niels Vodder became Finn Juhl’s cabinetmaker was that nobody else wanted to produce his furniture. They thought the furniture too strange and furthermore often technically complicated’ (Patricia Yamada, ed., Finn Juhl Memorial Exhibition, exh. cat., Osaka, 1990, p. 18). Although the collaboration between Juhl, then aged twenty-five, and Vodder began in 1937, it was not until the breakthrough period of 1944-1949 at the Cabinetmakers’ Guild in which Juhl began to incorporate his burgeoning organic and percipient approach towards furniture design. Professor Noritsuga Oda writes in his essay ‘My Recoll
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