Original Pen & Pencil Drawing
Finn Juhl, 1952

Description:

This is an example of a hand-drawn scaled drawing of the ‘Top of New Dining Table (DRW.79)’, 17th December 1952. The drawings depicts the top view of what seems to be a ‘simplified’ version of Finn Juhl’s Silver Table, or more commonly known as the ‘Judas Table’ for its use of 30 pieces of Silver inlayed into the leaves of the Dining Table. The design of the table in the drawing takes on a rectangular shape and Juhl notes that it would be made of a mixture of both Walnut and Sycamore wood, as opposed to the Brazilian Rosewood that he had used for the Oval ‘Judas Table’.

Juhl wrote to Hollis Baker, owner of Baker Furniture on the drawing as a means of replying to Mr Baker’s letters:

“Dear Hollis, this was the best, I could suggest. At home this more reasonable because of the oval shape. How it is in fact too simple to need the decoration.

Kindest regards – I will answer your two last letters very soon, thank you Finn” – Dec. 17, 52

Finn Juhl’s relationship with Baker Furniture and the US design circles was formed by the prolific art collector and director of the Industrial Design Department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA); Edgar Kaufmann Jr. An article written about Juhl by Kaufmann drew the attention of Mr Hollis Baker, a Furniture manufacturer in Michigan, and led to a collection of furniture designed by Juhl for Baker Furniture. The collaboration would snowball into events marking the era of ‘Danish Modern’, and an export boom of Danish design to the United States.

Specifications:

Measurements refer to the framed piece.

Height: 41 cm (28.5 cm unframed)
Width: 59 cm (43 cm unframed)
Depth: 2 cm