Gudrum "Gutte" Agnete Tryde Eriksen (20 November 1918 – 8 July 2008) was a Danish

ceramist Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whil ...

whose works were influenced by the years she spent in Japan studying Asian techniques. It is above all the specially produced glaze which is the distinguishing feature of her undecorated pottery. As a result of both her work and her teaching, she has exerted considerable influence on Danish potters.

Biography

Born in

Rødby Rødby is a town, with a population of 1,983 (1 January 2022),School of Arts and Crafts A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...

where she specialized in

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

, graduating in 1939. While still studying, she exhibited at the Charlottenborg autumn exhibition in 1938, inspired by old artefacts she had seen in the

National Museum A national museum is a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In other countries a much greater numb ...

. The demand for ceramics during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

encouraged production in the early 1940s and thereafter. Eriksen first collaborated with Åse Feilberg and Christian Frederiksen in Hareskov before establishing her own workshop in

Kastrup Kastrup () is a suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark, on the east coast of Amager in Tårnby Municipality. It is the site of Copenhagen Airport. In Danish, the airport is often called ''Kastrup Lufthavn'' (Kastrup Airport) or ''Københavns Lufthavn, Kast ...

in 1942. That year she also successfully exhibited in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

in the ''Dansk Kunsthaandværk'' (Danish Craftmanship) show organized by

Mogens Koch Mogens Koch (2 March 1898 – 16 September 1992) was a Danish architect and furniture designer and, from 1950 to 1968, a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Early life and education Mogens Koch was Koch in the Frederiksberg di ...

. When the exhibition came to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Danish Design Museum The Designmuseum Denmark () is a museum in Copenhagen for Danish and international design and crafts. It features works of famous Danish designers like Arne Jacobsen, Jacob Jensen and Kaare Klint, who was one of the two architects who remodeled ...

, she sold a piece titled ''Søpindsvinet'' (The Sea Urchin) to the museum. In 1948, Eriksen went to St Ives in England where she stayed with the potter

Bernard Leach Bernard Howell Leach (5 January 1887 – 6 May 1979), was a British studio potter and art teacher. He is regarded as the "Father of British studio pottery". Biography Early years (Japan) Leach was born in Hong Kong. His mother Eleanor (née ...

who had gained significance by publishing ''A Potter's Book'' in 1940. It was based on his familiarity with Chinese and Japanese pottery. She then went to France where she visited the potters Vassil Ivanoff in La Borne, a hamlet in

Henrichemont Henrichemont (), formerly known as Boisbelle, is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. The village was created and named in honour of Henri IV in 1609 by Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully to be the ca ...

, and Eugène Lion in

Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye (, literally ''Saint-Amand in Puisaye'') is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France. Its sights include the Château de Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye, a representative work of French Renaissance architecture. S ...

. After spending a couple of years working with

Felix Møhl Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

(1906–85), Eriksen established her own workshop in an old school in

Hundested Hundested is a town with a population of 8,543 (1 January 2022) and a former municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') in Region Hovedstaden in the northern part of the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The former municipality is sur ...

where she became a pioneering Danish potter, soon becoming recognized internationally. From 1948, her distinctive works bore no decoration, relying on a glaze she learnt from the English ceramist, Michael Gill (born 1927) in 1950. She developed the technique herself, producing blue, brown and grey artefacts. The glaze consisted of a combination of

borax Borax is a salt (ionic compound), a hydrated borate of sodium, with chemical formula often written . It is a colorless crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to make a basic solution. It is commonly available in powder or granular form, ...

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

, clay and ash. In the early 1970s, Eriksen travelled to central Japan on several occasions, once again meeting Bernard Leach and studying Korean techniques which inspired her later work. Eriksen's work has been widely exhibited, both in Denmark and abroad, with solo exhibitions in Germany, France, England, Sweden and the United States. A large retrospective exhibition was held at the

Vejen Art Museum Vejen Art Museum ( da, Vejen Kunstmuseum) is an art gallery in Vejen Municipality in the south of Jutland, Denmark. It specializes in works from the end of the 19th century in styles including Symbolism and Art Nouveau. Created in 1924 to hou ...

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

in the summer of 2001. She has received many awards, including the

Tagea Brandt Rejselegat The Tagea Brandts ''Rejselegat'' (Travel Scholarship) is a Danish award to women who have made a significant contribution in science, literature or art. The grant, which is given without application, was created and endowed by Danish industrialist ...

(1969) and

Thorvald Bindesbøll Medal The Thorvald Bindesbøll Medal ( da, Thorvald Bindesbøll Medaljen) is an award granted annually by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts for excellence in the fields of applied art and industrial design. The medal was established in 1979 in connec ...

(1985), the Prince Eugen Medal (2000) and the C. F. Hansen Medal (2004). Gutte Eriksen died on 8 July 2008.

Personal life

In 1951, Eriksen married the painter

Preben Hansen Preben is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Preben von Ahnen (1606–1675), German-born civil servant and landowner in Norway *Preben Arentoft (born 1942), Danish former football player * Preben Fjære Brynemo (born 1977), Norwe ...

with whom she had two children, a daughter and a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eriksen, Gutte 1918 births 2008 deaths People from Lolland People from Lolland Municipality Danish women designers Recipients of the Prince Eugen Medal Recipients of the C.F. Hansen Medal 20th-century Danish ceramists Danish women ceramists