Press release 05/03/2018
Creme de la creme
Special exhibition with rarely-seen masterworks from the museum’s new and established collections. On view from 26 April 2018 to 27 January 2019.
Works from artists like Matisse, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Jorn that have seldom or never been shown at Designmuseum Danmark will be on display beginning Thursday 26 April 2018, when the museum opens its doors for the year’s big special exhibition, “Crème de la crème”. The museum will show an exclusive selection of top pieces from its own archives.
Some of the artworks are rarely shown because they are fragile and cannot tolerate long exhibition periods. Others spend much of their time being loaned out – they are in high demand from museums around the world. This year, the Designmuseum has decided to keep all of its masterworks at home, so visitors can look forward to a true cornucopia of an exhibit with tapestries by Matisse and Léger, ceramics by Paul Gauguin, Jorn and Corneille, glass by Emile Gallé, posters by Toulouse-Lautrec, silver by Johan Rohde and Georg Jensen, jewelry by Lalique, and much more.
Museum director Anne-Louise Sommer says:
“With this exhibition, we wanted to strike a blow for the quality and good craftsmanship that our museum was created to present to the public. At a time when digitalisation, fads and information overload is a daily diet for many people, we believe that slow, careful work and artistry still has an important role to play. As a design museum, we move in the boundary between the unique and artistic on one side and the mass-produced on the other, which we think is an interesting tension for us to highlight. That’s why we look forward to showing these unique works from our collection, and hope that the exhibit can create a little breathing room in everyday life and inspire everyone.”
Facts about the exhibit
- The exhibit will take up more than 450 m2 and lead visitors along a thematic trail from abstract modern works to Art Nouveau to works inspired by Oceania, the East, and other distant parts of the world.
- From the textile collection, you can experience tapestries from great artists like Henri Matisse, Richard Mortensen and Fernand Léger. In addition, you’ll be able to see rare tapestries from the rococo and baroque periods, and Persian silk carpets from the 1600s with silver and gold threads.
- From the museum’s large ceramic collection, you’ll see icons like Meissen’s spectacular white porcelain eagle and an exclusive selection of Chinese ceramics from the Tang and Ming dynasties. In addition, the museum’s rare ceramic works by Paul Gauguin will be on display.
- The graphics portion of exhibit will include clip art by Henri Matisse and an entire room filled with 19 posters by Toulouse-Lautrec.
- Finally, the collection of silver and gold will be represented by several world-famous craftsmen such as René Lalique and Georg Jensen, as well as silver crosses from the 1600s by Ambrosius Sommer and Christoph Jamnitzer.
- The exhibtion is curated by curator Ulla Houkjær and curator Anne Cathrine Wolsgaard Iversen.