auCtion 776 - Bruun Rasmussen

Johan Rohde – The Unity of Art
By Gertrud Hvidbjerg-Hansen and Gertrud Oelsner
Last year marked the 150th anniversary of Johan
Rohde’s birth, but the scope and coherence of his
comprehensive production of paintings, furniture,
silver and book-craft has remained largely unknown,
even though Rohde was arguably one of the most
crucial figures in Danish art, applied art and art
criticism around the turn of the previous century.
applied art
Whereas modern art moved in new directions, Johan
Rohde (1856-1935) maintained his artistic idiom in
the first years of the 20th century. Even if Rohde’s
paintings were out of step with modern art, they constituted an important basis for his work within
handicrafts – an aspect that is often overlooked, because the renewal in his art after the turn of the
century is found in the design of e.g. silver and furniture. Rohde’s contribution to the advancement
of Danish handicrafts is truly impressive.
The collections at The Danish Museum of Art and Design contain hundreds of drawings with
sketches for everything from key bows, monograms, decorative patterns, flowerpots, lamps, curtain
rods for complete interiors – even fountains and sepulchral monuments. The same goes for his sketches
for silverworks, including jewellery, writing sets, cutlery and watches along with decorations for
book covers. In addition to these, there are all the elaborate pencil and watercolour drawings for
the same items that are often works of art in their own right.
Johan Rohde began to design furniture in 1897 and was soon quite successful, especially following
the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900 at which several specimens of his furniture were represented. Rohde’s
furniture is an interesting expression of the encounter with a number of ancient, classical and
Japanese stylistic features, reflected in the design of details, the use of exotic species of timber and in
a select craftsmanship brought to complete perfection – including the decorative intarsia works.
Gertrud Hvidberg-Hansen is keeper at Odense City Museums, and along with Gertrud Oelsner, keeper at
Storstrøm Art Museum, she organised last year’s Rohde exhibition, ”ARS UNA” (The Unity of Art), at Funen
Art Museum. For this exhibition they issued a publication on Rohde and his work under this very title. The
exhibition, from which a number of items are now offered for sale, was later presented at the Bröhan-
Museum in Berlin.
Bruun Rasmussen’s international auction no 776 consists of two catalogues, the first part with
paintings and the second part with applied art. Works by Johan Rohde from the collection of his
son, the late H.P. Rohde, will be represented in both catalogues.
Johan Rohde: "Selvportræt" (c. 1890). Den Hirschsprungske Samling.
Johan Rohdes hus tegnet i 1919