Kay Fisker - Leading exponent of Danish Functionalism
We are glad to present an rare lacquered wood stool by Kay Fisker (1893 - 1965). A very similar version was exhibited in the Danish Pavilion at the Paris World fair 1925.
Kay Fisker was a Danish architect and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts and designed his furniture pieces with the greatest architectural precision and quality as seen in this fine example below.
About the Designer:
Kay Otto Fisker (born 14 February 1893 in Frederiksberg, died 21 June 1965) was a Danish architect and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts. He was an exponent of a nationally shaped version of international functionalism. Fisker graduated from school in 1909 and attended the Academy of Fine Arts' School of Architecture from 1909 to 1920, when he graduated as an architect. During his studies he was employed at Anton Rosen's architect's office from 1912, in Stockholm with Sigurd Lewerentz and Gunnar Asplund in 1916 and with Hack Kampmann in Copenhagen from 1918. In 1915, in collaboration with Aage Rafn, he won a competition to design the railway stations along the Almindingen-Gudhjem railway on the Danish island of Bornholm.
After graduating, his career as a practising architect was dominated by numerous influential residential projects. Vestersøhus was built from 1935 to 1939 by Fisker and C. F. Møller. It instantly became a model in Denmark for the balcony and bay window blocks of the time. A key building in his production was Aarhus University (1931–43), considered to be one of the most important examples of Danish Functionalism, which he designed in collaboration with C. F. Møller, Povl Stegmann, and Carl Theodor Marius Sørensen. The university building is included in the Kulturkanonen. Kay Fisker also designed the Danish Academy in Rome.
From 1936 to 1963 Fisker was a professor at the Royal Academy and as teacher of the school's class on housing, having trained architects and designers such as Finn Juhl, he was known as an inspiring lecturer with great influence on Danish housing culture. In 1953 and 1957 he was a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
