Collections And Critiques

Numerous examples of the Danish silverwork of George Jensen are on display in the Germanic Museum to remain for a period of a month.

Silver Artistry

Jensen is one of the few silversmiths who have attained recognition as a distinguished artist. He is described in the announcement of the exhibition as having "awakened in silver a beauty which had therefore slumbered unnoticed in it."

Many pieces in the group which are being exhibited are replicas of objects acquired by museums abroad and in America. Among these are copies of a teapot and a water jug, now in the Danish Museum at Copenhagen; of a candle-labrum and bonbon dish, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art; two bowls, one in the Detroit Muesum of Art and the other a property of the Germanic Museum itself; and finally, a large bowl in the Mussee des Beaux Arts, Paris.

Moonlight on Water

Educated as a sculptor and painter Jensen reveals his artistic background in all his silver work. His designs are well-balanced and full of rhythm. The color and texture of his works are intended, in his own words, to suggest the "play of moonlight on water."

Most of the early Jensen ware was made by Jensen himself. Even after he stopped doing the actual work, he continued to conceive the designs and made working drawings for them. Since 1916 he has attached to his establishment some of the leading Danish artists, thus forming the famous School of Georg-Jensen.