vor frue kirke, copenhagen cathedral, 1811-1829.
architect: c.f.hansen, 1756-1845.
view on black.
it's back to work in copenhagen and I have a million photos/buildings to show you.
the other day, my daughter and I managed to find our way in to the small museum housed in the enclosed ambulatory of copenhagen cathedral, vor frue kirke, and so we got to see the big round windows from the inside. the light was right out of hammershøi and the space was splendid. I have no recollection of the exhibition, though...
before showing you anything else from this summer, we have to go back to sicily for the final buildings we saw there - and I have comments and mails to answer, apologies for the long wait.
more copenhagen architecture.
Tags: c.f. hansen copenhagen cathedral architecture vor frue kirke seier+seier all rights reserved
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ungdom, youth. sculpture, 1933.
artist: einar utzon-frank (1888-1955)
in enghaveparken, enghave plads, copenhagen, denmark 1927-1928.
architect: arne jacobsen (1902-1971) working for the copenhagen municipal architects department under poul holsøe (1873-1966).
classicist einar utzon-frank - uncle of utzon the architect - produced this piece long after the park was completed, but it fits as if holsøe and jacobsen had chosen it themselves.
jacobsen's enghavepark from above.
Tags: einar utzon-frank artist sculpture skulptur ungdom youth classicism neoclassicism enghaveparken enghave plads vesterbro københavn copenhagen kopenhagen köpenhamn denmark danmark arne jacobsen arne jacobsen poul holsøe seier+seier creative commons CC
thorvalden's museum, copenhagen, 1839-1847.
architect: gottlieb bindesbøll, 1800-1856.
the three graces, bertel thorvaldsen, 1770-1844.
it is only when you contemplate the art of thorvaldsen, that the mastery of the architect, gottlieb bindesbøll, becomes entirely obvious.
bindesbøll created his dark rooms with black window sills and black doorways to ensure that daylight was not reflected off any surface except the statues themselves, thus drawing perfect shadows and rendering every line and every detail perfectly legible.
each room focuses on one work of art and each work of art is given the silence and the light necessary for contemplation.
bindesbøll also contributes to the art works as the rich, dark colours of the stucco walls add sensuality to thorvaldsen's nudes by way of suggestion.
but make no mistake, thorvaldsen was a classical artist. he was looking for balance, not passion. his lions were tame and his women too...yet it is fascinating to see how his best sculptures work equally well from all angles and to see what can be achieved in a work of art when all traces of the process and everything accidental have been removed.
the classical ideal runs contrary to so much of modern art and it can be difficult to approach today. maybe in a small way, we can appreciate thorvaldsen when we learn that byron did not like the busts thorvaldsen did of him. byron felt he looked too content but he had simply gone to the wrong artist. classicists don't do sulky.
had this museum been in berlin or in rome as first imagined, it would have been in all the histories of architecture. instead, it is a quiet corner in copenhagen, itself a quiet corner of europe. I recommend it to all.
related treatment of daylight here.
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Tags: bindesbøll bindesbøl bindesboll gottlieb gotlieb michael thorvaldsen thorvalsens museum sculpture classical nude white marble art three graces arkitektur architecture architect copenhagen københavn kopenhagen denmark danmark interior room light contrast nordic scandinavian scandinavia architektur bygning Arquitectura arquitetura Architectuur Architettura danish dansk arkitekt classicist neoclassical neoclassicist museo seier+seier creative commons CC
bandstand detail, enghaveparken, enghave plads, copenhagen, denmark 1927-1928.
architect: arne jacobsen (1902-1971) working for the copenhagen municipal architects department under poul holsøe (1873-1966).
unknown jacobsen.
in copenhagen everybody knows enghaveparken, but hardly anyone knows who designed its buildings. even I wasn't too sure about the bandstand and went to the park this morning, through the garbage and the smell of piss from friday night's parties and past city pigeons so butch they only move as far as you kick them, to see for myself. vesterbro, the working class neighbourhood where jacobsen's park is found, still has a long way to go despite years of gentrification and his structures are derelict and covered in graffiti.
at least, I am now sure they are by jacobsen. the thinness of the concrete shell and the delicacy and apparent simplicity of the detailing gave its architect away immediately - and I have since found the texts to confirm it. yet, this is one of the only neoclassical works from his hand: jacobsen worked for the municipal architects department for just two years after finishing his studies at the royal academy, before opening his own office and completing his first modernist house in 1929.
in terms of detailing and the integration of art, we are very close to asplund here, making it clear that jacobsen was following the Swedish master long before the two met as modernists in the 1930's.
on the whole, holsøe and jacobsen took great care with the neoclassicist credentials of their park. the benches are reproduced from a design by bindesbøll père so admired by carl petersen and asplund, and the one little sculpture they could afford is by kai nielsen whose work famously dominates carl petersen's faaborg museum, the first major building of the movement.
but the true qualities of the place are found in its architecture, not least in how the red brick walls of holsøe's surrounding social housing define the park as an urban space. I am also very fond of jacobsen's floor. as I have just learnt on flickr, miralles said that the quality of a city lies in the first 20cm built from the ground. here is confirmation.
jacobsen's enghavepark from above.
more jacobsen.
Tags: arne jacobsen arne jacobsen architect arkitekt architecture arkitektur enghaveparken park enghave plads vesterbro københavn copenhagen kopenhagen köpenhamn denmark danmark bandstand stairs staircase detail stone floor classicism neoclassicism architektur arquitetura arquitectura Architectuur Architettura seier+seier creative commons CC
thorvalden's museum, copenhagen, 1839-1847.
architect: gottlieb bindesbøll, 1800-1856.
all the vaults are decorated, but none more poetically than in the dark corridor circumventing the courtyard where thorvaldsen is burried: a starry sky of pure cobalt blue.
Tags: bindesbøll bindesbøl bindesboll gottlieb gotlieb michael thorvaldsen thorvalsens museum arkitektur architecture architect copenhagen københavn kopenhagen denmark danmark interior room light barrel vault nordic scandinavian scandinavia architektur bygning Arquitectura arquitetura Architectuur Architettura danish dansk arkitekt museo seier+seier creative commons CC