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Dahl Jensen figurer # 1200 - 1299

Dahl Jensen Index

Dahl-Jensen figurines # 1200 - 1299

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About the sculptor

JENS PETER DAHL- JENSEN and his Factory

Few people reach the object of their wishes, but my father did, richly gifted as he was, and not least through hard toil and perseverance, and his life became long, exciting and interesting.

He was born on July 23rd 1874 in the small town of Nibe in Jutland. His father was a cabinetmaker, and he himself became apprenticed to a joiner in Aalborg where at the same time he learnt the wood-carver's trade, and this brought about a fancy to modeling. The art of sculpture affected him, and soon he realized that this was his proper field of work.   This text is provided by www.jamerantik.dk.

After having frequented the Technical College in Analog he accomplished his journeyman's probation work for which he was awarded silver medal. This resulted in studies at the Royal Academy of Arts in Copenhagen from 1894 to 1897.

At the same time he took lessons from Vilhelm Bissen - one of the big masters in the art of sculpture in those days - who in all respects guided his young student.

When during the summer the Academy was closed, my father would study in Berlin and Dresden, and after his final examination at the Royal Academy he went to Switzerland and Italy for further education.

On his return from abroad he was appointed sculptor at Bing & Grondahl Porcelain Factory, where he worked until 1917. This factory possesses a selection of sculptures from his hand signed by himself, and many of them are still being produced.

From 1917 to 1925 my father was the manager of the porcelain factory "Norden". This text is provided by www.jamerantik.dk.  

In 1900 he married a porcelain painter. Since her 14th year my mother had been working in this trade, first at the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Factory, and later at Bing & Grondahl.

Besides his daily work at the factory my father would work in the evenings at home in his studio, where he modeled a long series of beasts of prey. These were cast in bronze which he chiseled himself.

These bronze figures were exhibited every year at Charlottenborg, (The Royal Academy of Arts), or at other Danish exhibitions, and they were also shown at exhibitions abroad, for instance in Malmo - Berlin - Munich and San Francisco during the years 1901 to 1925.

Even if work was considered the main thing in life in my home, my parents also found time for feasting, - and they knew how to feast in Copenhagen in those days, where among artists there was a solidarity and a fellowship which grew stronger in a festive atmosphere under moderate forms, and this was of great value for the individual development of the artists.

In these surroundings I for my part had always heard about porcelain, so it was only natural that this industry had an irresistible attraction on me. I learnt the trade from the bottom, and after having finished my apprenticeship, I went to the Czech-Slovakia to study at the "Staatfachschule fur Keramik und verwandte Kunstgewerbe". After a couple of years I passed the final examination and then went to France to study at the "Ecole professionelle de l'Etat" in Vierzon, where a ceramic section was found:

Back in Denmark again in 1923 I very soon came in touch with a Venetian glasswork wanting to establish a smaller porcelain factory. In spite of my young age - I was then only 22 - I was shown the confidence that they wanted me to work out the project; the factory started with untrained, but happy Italians, and within a year the first firing was produced.

I disapproved of contaminating the fresh air by sending tons of black and filthy coal smoke out over beautiful Venice; but naturally, there are sides of every-day-life of the town which are not seen by the tourists; it must have industry and trade to occupy and feed all its inhabitants.

My father's mind often played with plans of getting his own porcelain factory; but since these factories usually are big enterprises, and my father did not have the means, the plans remained plans. In 1924 at Christmas time my parents paid a visit to me in Venice, and here my father became quite enthusiastic about the factory I had established; he saw that it was possible to produce porcelain under smaller conditions, and this made him fancy the idea of doing something alike at home in Denmark.

We then agreed to make an attempt to establish a small factory in Copenhagen; for my part, these plans came just in time, since I could not very well put up with the moist heat, which in beautiful Venice is a nuisance a great part of the year to a man from the North.

Oh August 25th 1925 we succeeded in acquiring a suitable building on 288 Frederikssundsvej in the north-western outskirts of Copenhagen, and now began the many preparations and rebuildings necessary to production of porcelain.

The most important part was the building or construction of a kiln of a moderate size; being used serving kilns of big dimensions we got into serious trouble with this smaller one, and during the first year most of the firings totally failed, and the contents were as a whole worthless.

But such is the lot of the ceramic artist's, - he must not give up, but try, try and try again, and even if things often seemed pretty awkward to us, we had our minds set on that job to a degree that we in a way overlooked the financial risk we had entered into.

At length - after the elapse of nearly two years - we succeeded in producing porcelain of an acceptable quality, and besides figurines decorated with under glaze colors we now began to produce "crackled" porcelain, - vases, bowls, bowls with cover, etc. Also in this field we had many difficulties to overcome, because the glaze for "crackle" is very complicated. Crackled porcelain is decorated on the glaze, and being a painter, my wife has created numbers of decorations for it.

Little by little we could begin to sell our porcelain; in the beginning, it was mainly the U.S.A. showing interest, but later on the Danish shops would like to sell our porcelain too, and then came other countries.

Completely uninfluenced by the slow progress an the mercantile domain my father still modeled new sculptures, and by and by he got time to cultivate his passion for people from the East by creating a series of figures representing models from the Far East.

The production steadily gained ground, and when possible we also acquired the works of other artists, and we still continue in this way to enlarge our model collection. ,

I consider the sales - and showrooms at the factory of the greatest importance for our contact with the interested public; here they can always make themselves acquainted with the total production.

As years passed by, even third generation got started, - my daughter Else as a painter, and my son Anker at the technical side of the production, but both of them in preparation for carrying on the factory.

My father's dream of life came true when he attained his object, -i.e. to be able to reproduce his works himself, so that many others might enjoy them. He worked practically to the very end of his life; he passed away on December 12th 1960, thus having obtained the age of 86 years.

From Foreign countries told in porcelain by George  Dahl-Jensen

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