Bjørn Nørgaard
Encyclopedia
Bjørn Nørgaard is a Danish artist
who has been active in a variety of fields. He has significantly influenced the art scene in Denmark
both through his "happenings" and his sculptures in Danish cities. Although he has specialized in sculpture since 1970, his greatest achievement is perhaps his work in designing Queen Margrethe II's tapestries.
Nørgaard was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1985 to 1994. His main workshop is in the village of Bissinge on the island of Møn
.
and Richard Winther
. Influenced by the German performance artist Joseph Beuys
, he was involved in collaborative works and happenings where he found new ways to give artistic expression to the left-wing causes of the time.
One of the most striking of these was "The Female Christ" (1969) when his wife Lene Adler Petersen walked naked with a cross through the Copenhagen Stock Exchange
in order to remind society of Christ's visit to the temple. Trading were suspended for the rest of the day. Another was his "Horse Sacrifice" (1970) where he slaughtered a horse on a field in the north of Sealand and carved it up into small pieces which he put into hundreds of jam jars. Here he was successful in encouraging the press to focus on the Vietnam War
and hunger in Biafra
. The happening
caused quite a commotion and debate.
Working with a variety of materials, Nørgaard applies art to communicating with society whether through sculpture, festivals, film, painting, graphic art or architecture. He has succeeded in providing critical reflections on culture, politics and society as it evolves.
Much of his work involves sculpture where he is adept at combining themes from art and culture, providing a new perspective on topics of current interest. His interest in history is certainly one of the reasons why he was chosen in 1990 to design the large-scale sketches for the tapestries tracing the history of Denmark at the request of Queen Margrethe. He was awarded the Ingenio et Arti
medal in 1999.
His monumental sculptures located in public spaces in several Danish towns combine concrete, marble, ceramics and glass. They include the widely acclaimed Human Wall (1982), now to be displayed at the Horsens
Art Museum, the Hans Tausen
monument (2004) in Viborg
, and the 26 metre high Thor's Tower (1986) in Høje Taastrup.
Library just outside Copenhagen. Aiming to instill interest in disappearing local crafts, he covered the pillars in the main reading room with leather, mirrors, tape and tiles. In the courtyard, he placed a glass pyramid and a tower reaching for the sky as well as two bronze statues modelled on himself and his wife. The facade was covered with numerous cartoon figures and film strips. In the entrance hall, he built a ceramic den which proved a major attraction for children. At the time his work was considered extremely controversial but has now proved the test of time.
in New York, brings together a series of historically recognisable figures juxtaposed with some more modern ones, including Nørgaard's daughter in jeans, her hands in her pockets. They include the 3,000 year-old snake women from Czechoslovakia, the ape man from India in Uncle Sam
's top hat, the Indian elephant woman, the Maya
woman, Greek sculptures and a Matisse
figure. The work was also exhibited for a number of years in the Danish National Gallery
and is now to be moved to the Horsens
Art Museum in Jutland
.
.
in Paris, the tapestries were based on Nørgaard's full-sized sketches. Completed in 1999, they now hang in the Great Hall at Christiansborg Palace
.
, Jutland, on the site of a former city gate. Completed in 1994, it is constructed of glazed tiles, cobblestones, cast iron, wood and bronze, combining a variety of colours. It is also known as the Chapel to the Present.
in 2004, Nørgaard created the imposing statue of Hans Tausen
, its main protagonist. The statue stands in Viborg
's Hans Tausen's Remembrance Park in the centre of the city.
in eastern Jutland, the sculpture represents twelve of its citizens, six women and girls and six men and boys. Inspired by Auguste Rodin
's sculpture The Burghers of Calais
as well as by Christ's disciples, it was modelled on plaster casts of local citizens, bringing a message of hope for the future.
district of northern Copenhagen is Nørgaard's proof that it is possible to combine innovative architecture with good living conditions enhanced by an encouraging environment. The two wave-formed structures snake across the site with hardly a straight line to be seen. Striving to demonstrate that established craftmanship can compete with modern building methods, Nørgaard typically combines the use of various materials: wood and aluminium for the windows, zinc and copper for the roofs, red and yellow bricks for the walls.
Art of Denmark
Danish art goes back thousands of years with significant artifacts from the 2nd millennium BC, such as the Trundholm sun chariot. Art from modern Denmark forms part of the art of the Nordic Bronze Age, and then Norse and Viking art...
who has been active in a variety of fields. He has significantly influenced the art scene in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
both through his "happenings" and his sculptures in Danish cities. Although he has specialized in sculpture since 1970, his greatest achievement is perhaps his work in designing Queen Margrethe II's tapestries.
Nørgaard was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1985 to 1994. His main workshop is in the village of Bissinge on the island of Møn
Møn
-Location:Møn is located just off the south-eastern tip of Zealand from which it is separated by the waters of the Hølen strait between Kalvehave and the island of Nyord, at the northern end of Møn. Further south is Stege Bugt...
.
A versatile artist
Nørgaard studied in the 1960s at the newly founded Copenhagen School of Experimental Art where, as a 17 year-old, he came into contact with artists such as Per KirkebyPer Kirkeby
Per Kirkeby is a Danish painter, poet, filmmaker and sculptor.-Biography:1962 Studies at the Experimental Art School in Copenhagen; works in the School on painting, graphic arts, 8 millimeter films and performance pieces...
and Richard Winther
Richard Winther
Richard Winther was considered one of the major Danish artists of the 20th century. He explored the arts extensively and his prolific career focused mainly on painting, graphics, photography and sculpture...
. Influenced by the German performance artist Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...
, he was involved in collaborative works and happenings where he found new ways to give artistic expression to the left-wing causes of the time.
One of the most striking of these was "The Female Christ" (1969) when his wife Lene Adler Petersen walked naked with a cross through the Copenhagen Stock Exchange
Copenhagen Stock Exchange
The Copenhagen Stock Exchange or CSE is an international marketplace for Danish securities, including shares, bonds, treasury bills and notes, and financial futures and options...
in order to remind society of Christ's visit to the temple. Trading were suspended for the rest of the day. Another was his "Horse Sacrifice" (1970) where he slaughtered a horse on a field in the north of Sealand and carved it up into small pieces which he put into hundreds of jam jars. Here he was successful in encouraging the press to focus on the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and hunger in Biafra
Biafra
Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra . The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious...
. The happening
Happening
A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. Happenings take place anywhere , are often multi-disciplinary, with a nonlinear narrative and the active participation of the audience...
caused quite a commotion and debate.
Working with a variety of materials, Nørgaard applies art to communicating with society whether through sculpture, festivals, film, painting, graphic art or architecture. He has succeeded in providing critical reflections on culture, politics and society as it evolves.
Much of his work involves sculpture where he is adept at combining themes from art and culture, providing a new perspective on topics of current interest. His interest in history is certainly one of the reasons why he was chosen in 1990 to design the large-scale sketches for the tapestries tracing the history of Denmark at the request of Queen Margrethe. He was awarded the Ingenio et Arti
Ingenio et Arti
Ingenio et Arti is a Danish medal awarded to prominent Danish and foreign scientists and artists. The honour, a personal award of the Monarch, was instituted by King Christian VIII in 1841 and could be awarded to women as well as men.The medal is awarded irregularly, on average less than twice per...
medal in 1999.
His monumental sculptures located in public spaces in several Danish towns combine concrete, marble, ceramics and glass. They include the widely acclaimed Human Wall (1982), now to be displayed at the Horsens
Horsens
Horsens is a Danish city in east Jutland. It is the site of the council of Horsens municipality. The city's population is 53,807 and the Horsens municipality's population is 82,835 ....
Art Museum, the Hans Tausen
Hans Tausen
Hans Tausen , the protagonist of the Danish Reformation, was born at Birkende on Funen in 1494 and died in Ribe in 1561.- Life :...
monument (2004) in Viborg
Viborg, Denmark
Viborg , a town in central Jutland, Denmark, is the seat of both Viborg municipality and Region Midtjylland. Viborg is also the seat of the Western High Court, the High Court for the Jutland peninsula...
, and the 26 metre high Thor's Tower (1986) in Høje Taastrup.
Key works
Nørgaard has been extremely active since the 1970s, producing a wide selection of sculptures and architectural works. Some of the most widely recognized are described below.Gladsaxe Library
Nørgaard's first commission, which he received in 1979, was to decorate the recently completed GladsaxeGladsaxe
Gladsaxe Kommune is a municipality near Copenhagen in Region Hovedstaden on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 25 km², and has a total population of 62,562...
Library just outside Copenhagen. Aiming to instill interest in disappearing local crafts, he covered the pillars in the main reading room with leather, mirrors, tape and tiles. In the courtyard, he placed a glass pyramid and a tower reaching for the sky as well as two bronze statues modelled on himself and his wife. The facade was covered with numerous cartoon figures and film strips. In the entrance hall, he built a ceramic den which proved a major attraction for children. At the time his work was considered extremely controversial but has now proved the test of time.
Human Wall
"The Human Wall", created in 1981-82 for the Guggenheim MuseumSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...
in New York, brings together a series of historically recognisable figures juxtaposed with some more modern ones, including Nørgaard's daughter in jeans, her hands in her pockets. They include the 3,000 year-old snake women from Czechoslovakia, the ape man from India in Uncle Sam
Uncle Sam
Uncle Sam is a common national personification of the American government originally used during the War of 1812. He is depicted as a stern elderly man with white hair and a goatee beard...
's top hat, the Indian elephant woman, the Maya
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
woman, Greek sculptures and a Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
figure. The work was also exhibited for a number of years in the Danish National Gallery
Statens Museum for Kunst
Statens Museum for Kunst is the Danish national gallery located in Copenhagen....
and is now to be moved to the Horsens
Horsens
Horsens is a Danish city in east Jutland. It is the site of the council of Horsens municipality. The city's population is 53,807 and the Horsens municipality's population is 82,835 ....
Art Museum in Jutland
Jutland
Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
.
Thor's Tower
Standing 26.5 metres high, "Thor's Tower" (1986), strategically located close to Høje Taastrup's bus station, is Scandinavia's tallest sculpture. It consists of many different materials including some 20,000 glazed tiles, granite figures, grey and white concrete facing as well as various metals and coloured glass. The neon tubes encircling the central pillar shine at night. Inspired by Nordic mythology, the sculpture relies on the connection between Taarup's historic relationahip with the god ThorThor
In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...
.
Margrethe II's tapestries
On the occasion of her 50th birthday in 1990, Queen Margrethe II decided to use a gift from industry of 13 million Danish crowns to produce a series of tapestries tracing the history of Denmark from the beginnings to the present day. Woven by the historic Manufacture des GobelinsGobelins manufactory
The Manufacture des Gobelins is a tapestry factory located in Paris, France, at 42 avenue des Gobelins, near the Les Gobelins métro station in the XIIIe arrondissement...
in Paris, the tapestries were based on Nørgaard's full-sized sketches. Completed in 1999, they now hang in the Great Hall at Christiansborg Palace
Christiansborg Palace
Christiansborg Palace, , on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, is the seat of the Folketing , the Danish Prime Minister's Office and the Danish Supreme Court...
.
City Gate, Randers
The "City Gate" stands on Adelgade in RandersRanders
Randers is a city in Randers municipality on the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 60,656 . Randers city is the main town of the municipality and the site of its municipal council.-Overview:Randers municipality has 94,750 inhabitants...
, Jutland, on the site of a former city gate. Completed in 1994, it is constructed of glazed tiles, cobblestones, cast iron, wood and bronze, combining a variety of colours. It is also known as the Chapel to the Present.
Hans Tausen
Marking the 475th anniversary of the ReformationReformation in Denmark
The Reformation in Denmark–Norway and Holstein was the transition from Roman Catholicism to Lutheranism in the realms ruled by the Copenhagen-based House of Oldenburg in the first half of the sixteenth century...
in 2004, Nørgaard created the imposing statue of Hans Tausen
Hans Tausen
Hans Tausen , the protagonist of the Danish Reformation, was born at Birkende on Funen in 1494 and died in Ribe in 1561.- Life :...
, its main protagonist. The statue stands in Viborg
Viborg, Denmark
Viborg , a town in central Jutland, Denmark, is the seat of both Viborg municipality and Region Midtjylland. Viborg is also the seat of the Western High Court, the High Court for the Jutland peninsula...
's Hans Tausen's Remembrance Park in the centre of the city.
Burghers of Holstebro
"The Burghers of Holstebro" is a monument created by Nørgaard in 2004. Located at a crossing on Nørrebro in the centre of the city of HolstebroHolstebro
Holstebro Municipality is a municipality in Region Midtjylland on the Jutland peninsula in west Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 790 km², and has a total population of 57,020 . Its mayor is H. C...
in eastern Jutland, the sculpture represents twelve of its citizens, six women and girls and six men and boys. Inspired by Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
's sculpture The Burghers of Calais
The Burghers of Calais
Les Bourgeois de Calais is one of the most famous sculptures by Auguste Rodin, completed in 1889. It serves as a monument to an occurrence in 1347 during the Hundred Years' War, when Calais, an important French port on the English Channel, was under siege by the English for over a year.-History:The...
as well as by Christ's disciples, it was modelled on plaster casts of local citizens, bringing a message of hope for the future.
Bispebjerg Bakke
The recently completed apartment complex (2006) in the BispebjergBispebjerg
Bispebjerg is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It lies on the north border of the municipality. It covers an area of 5.39 km², has a population of 40,033, and a population density of 7,389 per km²....
district of northern Copenhagen is Nørgaard's proof that it is possible to combine innovative architecture with good living conditions enhanced by an encouraging environment. The two wave-formed structures snake across the site with hardly a straight line to be seen. Striving to demonstrate that established craftmanship can compete with modern building methods, Nørgaard typically combines the use of various materials: wood and aluminium for the windows, zinc and copper for the roofs, red and yellow bricks for the walls.
Exhibitions
- Statens Museum for KunstStatens Museum for KunstStatens Museum for Kunst is the Danish national gallery located in Copenhagen....
: Venus mirrors mirrors Venus (2005). - Køge Art Museum: Sketches for Queen Margrethe's tapestries.
- ChemnitzChemnitzChemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...
, Germany (2009): Bjørn Nørgaard — Kunstsamlungen Chemnitz. - Statens Museum for KunstStatens Museum for KunstStatens Museum for Kunst is the Danish national gallery located in Copenhagen....
: Re-modelling the World (2010).