Carl Malmsten cabinet

Category: Storage, Furniture

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Item no: 107787

Tagged with: carl malmsten, david blomberg, De fyra åldrarna

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Carl Malmsten master cabinet by David Blomberg at Studio Schalling

Information

Very rare master cabinet model “The four ages” by Carl Malmsten

Produced by David Blomberg in Sweden

Rosewood, mahogany and inlays of different woods

Original drawings dated 7/3 1931 included

Good vintage condition, with signs of usage and patina

1931

Dimensions (W x D x H): 109 x 47 x 184 cm

Price: on request

Item no: 107787

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Provenance

Ordered in 1931 by engineer Birger Sundfeldt (1891-1962) and Margaretha Frölander (1902-1973). Hence monogrammed B.S and M.F.

Literature

Journal of Home Decoration, "David Blomberg", No. 1, 1934, model depicted p. 2.
Ingegerd Henschen & Sten Blomberg, "Svenskt Möbellexikon", band 2, 1961, compares color scheme p. 144.
Jubilee, "Swedish Art of Art - Craftsmen of Artisans", 1931, model depicted p. 48.

About

No architect like Carl Malmsten paved the way for Swedish furniture art in the 20th century. Malmsten is represented at most institutions, embassies and museums around the world. During the first half of the 20th century, the major exhibitions were important to all those engaged in the arts and crafts industry. There it was shown what could be achieved. Successfully, Carl Malmsten participated in many exhibitions, such as the Home Exhibition 1917, the Gothenburg Exhibition 1923, the Paris Exhibition 1925 and the Stockholm Exhibition 1930. In addition, he received prestigious interior design assignments for the Stockholm Concert Hall, the Tampere Palace and Stockholm City Hall.

1930, the year of the great Stockholm exhibition, broke a heated debate. Gregor Paulsson, Managing Director of the Swedish association of the craft, advocated the new ideas - functionalism. His antagonist was Carl Malmsten, who defended the tradition and craft against engineering and machine manufacturing. In the past decade, Malmsten dominated the Swedish furniture art, and what gave him the opportunity to do what he want was two things. The first was his traditionally but confident and personal taste. The second was his ability to be not just an architect but at the same time a craftsman. Malmsten understood to utilize the tradition in a proper way, and soon settled from its weighty boils. For him, the Swedish furniture tradition, shaped by the times, became a source of inspiration and renewal. He felt like a heir in a vast unbroken cultural context, from which he gained strength and security. Through his qualities as a good craftsman, he managed to make furniture, which belonged to reality, fulfilling a task in daily life, and not only fancy beautiful writing. In the 1920s, Malmsten, more or less consciously, grouped the other Swedish furniture artists.

Malmsten was in no way left on the lazy side during the 1930s as he continued to perform and represent at most exhibitions. The purity of time, however, did not pass him through, but the intarsia that he occasionally adorned his furniture became even richer. Malmsten designed "the four ages" in 1931, during the period when he worked on the assignment to decorate a suite at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. The cabinet's rich intarsia work follows a narrative of landscape and figure scenes over the four ages. The company David Blomberg was in Stockholm for the performance of the cabinet. The cabinet was a special order that internally carries the order's monogram, and its original drawings dated March 7, 1931 are preserved and supplied with the cabinet.

The model was shown at "Rot och Krona: Carl Malmsten: Retrospective Exhibition", Liljevalch Art Hall, Stockholm, September 12 - 19 October 1969.