Stoneware | C20Ceramics

Dec 3

Trude Barner Jespersen for Bing & Grondahl 1970s

Trude Barner Jespersen, Denmark.

Trude Barner Jespersen was born in 1938 and died in 1997, Dianalund, Denmark.

In the 1960s – 1970s she produced a series of designs for Bing & Grondahl. It was a stunning series of contemporary porcelain designs which Im surprised are not more well known.

Equally Im surprised that her talent is not well documented. It happens often with Artists and Potters that some become well known and well documented, and others simply by coincidence, history seems to bypass. In Trude’s case it may also have something to do with passing away at a relatively young age of 59.

There is a black and white photograph of Trude’s series for Bing & Grondahl in the book “New Design in Ceramics” Donald J Willcox, 1970 – a book which focuses on talented Scandinavian ceramicists – but there is no written information about the design or Trude’s work.

From what I can see, Trude’s work as a potter and designer seems to have developed along 2 streams – her contemporary, clean, streamlined porcelain designs for Bing & Grondahl, and her more traditional domestic, wood fired stoneware studio pottery from her workshop in Dianalund in the West of the Island of Zealand, Denmark.

Below is some Biographical information from the Danish Artists Database HERE

Trude started her own workshop/studio in 1962, making her own porcelain clay, and glazing with various ash and salt glazes. She was inspired by trips to the west cost of Greenland in the 1970s and has produced a number of reliefs and other works with with Greenlandic and maritime themes.

Trude Barner Jespersen Works:

Porcelain series (1967, Bing and Grøndal, 1975 decorated by Icelandic artist RUNA);

Misiqssut at Disko (relief, 1973, Ikast Handelssk.);

Baffins Bay (Relief Series, 1974);

The displacement of the population of Kutdligssat, Disko (relief, 1985, Nuuk City Hall);

Sound insulation collage (1986, ASA-Lift, Dianalund);

2 Greenland Reliefs (1990, Gudrun’s Memorial, Dianalund);

Columbus Ship Relief (1992); 6 ship reliever (1993, Colonien Filadelfia, Dianalund 1993).

Trude Barner Jerspersen Studio Work – Photo via DBA Denmark

There are also some charming photographs online of Trude in her workshop in Dianalund on the Danish Archive site Arkiv.dk

Trude Barner Jespersen, in her Studio, Photographer unknown via Arkiv.dk

Trude Barner Jespersen, in her Studio, Photographer unknown.

Nov 27

Gutte Eriksen – 2 Recent Finds

I was very fortunate recently to find not just one, but two pieces of important Danish studio pottery by Gutte Eriksen. (read my previous post on Gutte here) The pieces were in an auction lot of assorted Danish pottery and I only recognised the first one as by Gutte – until I got them home and cleaned – as all of them were covered in years of dust and soiling. To my surprise there was a second and larger piece by Gutte which revealed itself when cleaned.

The first is a charming urn form with lid and handles standing just over 12cm tall. It has subtle cobalt blue decoration, and the textured ash and borax glaze she has become associated with. The tiny bubbles in the glaze are a characteristic of this glaze and caused by the borax content.

The second piece has a pattern around the shoulder which I have seen previously on pieces by Gutte.

Tue Poulsen Denmark

From time to time I come across beautifully formed stoneware forms from Denmark, stamped “TUE” in tiny letters underneath. Tue is the stamp of Tue Poulsen (b1939 -) a highly accomplished ceramicist and artist who has a permanent gallery and studio in Fårevejle, in the east of Zealand, Denmark.

Tue has a comprehensive website which is so refreshing (and rare it seems!) to find.

The website is jam packed full of wonderful images and information about his work. It is well worth spending some time to read it all.

His sculptural work is astonishing, but equally accomplished are his ceramic vessels – often produced in series. The first image below is of a piece I found recently at an Auction.

Tue Poulsen Ceramics 1960s-1970s via Tue Poulsen Website

On Tue’s website he also has photographs of early series and works like the one above – which is great to help identify the era pieces were made in.

Tue Poulsen Vessel — Tue Poulsen Stoneware Vessel

In addition to his own studio pottery, Poulsen has also designed pieces for Stogo (1963, 1976)), Torben Orskov (1963), lamps for Domus Danica (1970), furniture for Westnova (1973) and ceramics for Knabstrup (1973).