Here is another bear sculpted by our Danish friend, Knud Kyhn (1880-1969). This large, heavy and compactly-modeled form catches the startled expression and ursine energy of a lumbering bear. Is she just sitting down? Or trying to get-up?
Knud Kyhn often glazed his pieces in Royal Copenhagen's "Sung Glaze." This dripping blend of colors—browns, creams, blues, greens and oranges—has an earthy, organic and highly-variable appearance. The glaze was developed by Patrick Nordström, a brilliant ceramicist, who distinguished himself through his mastery of complex glazes. His Sung Glaze was inspired by earlier Chinese glazes—which had been intriguing the Western world for centuries.
Nordström (1870-1929) was a Swede who made much of his career in Denmark. He was born in Väsby, Sweden (not far from Höganäs, another center of stoneware production). Väsby also was not far from the large Danish island of Zealand (Sjælland)—home to 40% of Denmark's population (including the capital city of Copenhagen). Nordström studied sculpture in Stockholm at what is now called the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design. He exhibited at the 1900 Paris Exposition, a wonderful springboard to his future career. While in France, he developed a fascination with the glaze works of Sèvres porcelain.
After the World's Fair, Nordström moved to Denmark, outside of Copenhagen, where he established his own ceramics studio. He researched and experimented in his quest to invent new glazes, especially those resembling Ancient Asian formulas. He was determined to master the highly-coveted Chinese Oxblood glaze.
In 1912, Nordström was hired to lead Royal Copenhagen's new stoneware department. For ten years he worked with many of the company's most famous artists: Axel Salto, Carl Halier, Jais Nielsen and Knud Kyhn (who sculpted the bear, shown above). He left Royal Copenhagen in 1922 to focus on his independent work. He died in 1929, as a result of a strange incident. It appears that Nordström, eager to check the progress of the firing of a batch of ceramics, opened the kiln a bit too early—before it was completely cooled. The overwhelming heat, followed by the plunging cold of his unheated workshop, resulted in pneumonia which killed Nordström a few days later.
The bear above, thus, was a joint effort. Master sculptor, Knud Khyn, and master glazer, Patrick Nordström, are united forever in this handsome work of Danish Modernism. Click on the photo above to learn more about it.
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