Karen Vibeke Klint (née Nielsen; 13 December 1927 - 30 December 2019) was a Danish textile artist who created a wide variety of tapestries, carpets, silks and home textiles, initially inspired by Functionalism. Her work has been used to decorate concert halls, embassies, ministries and churches. While her own creations were frequently inspired by geometrical patterns, she also produced tapestries based on cartoons by

William Scharff Niels William Scharff (30 October 1886– 20 September 1959) was a Danish painter, one of the leading proponents of Cubism in Denmark. Early life After training as a painter at Copenhagen's Technical School, Scharff attended Kristian Zahrtmann' ...

and

Palle Nielsen Palle Louis Nielsen (8 August 1920 – 5 September 2000) was a Danish illustrator and graphic artist. Considered to be one of the masters of his times, his works include drawings, watercolours, woodcuts and linocuts. Biography Born in Copenha ...

Early life and education

Born on 13 December 1927 in Frederiksberg, Karen Vibeke Nielsen was the daughter of the editor Gunnar Lorens Christian Nielsen (1901–52) and Karen Gudrun Skou (1905–66). When she was six, the family moved to

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

where her father became the editor of the local newspaper '' Århus Stiftstidende''. In 1942, she and her two younger sisters moved back to Copenhagen where her father had been appointed editor of '' Nationaltidende''. While at school, she took private art lessons with Poul Sæbye and later with

Bizzie Høyer Jacobine (Bizzie) Severine Henriette Høyer (26 March 1888 – 10 May 1971) was a Danish painter and art teacher. Biography Born in the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen, Høyer attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1904 to 1909. ...

. When she was 19, she studied weaving under

Gerda Henning Gerda Henning née Heydorn (March 2, 1891 – June 26, 1951) was a Danish weaver, textile designer and educator. Biography Born Gerda Heydorn in Fredriksberg, Denmark, she was the daughter of a grocer. From 1910 to 1917 she worked as a china paint ...

at the

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 comp ...

, graduating in 1949.

Career

Klink was first engaged by Karen Warming where she wove long lengths of furniture upholstery. Happy to find something less boring, she immediately took up an offer from Gerda Henning to work on creating tapestries for the parliamentary chamber at

Christiansborg Christiansborg Palace ( da, Christiansborg Slot; ) is a palace and government building on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the seat of the Danish Parliament ('), the Danish Prime Minister's Office, and the Supreme ...

. In order to prepare her for the task, Henning sent her to France where she learnt the art of tapestry under Jean Lurçat and Pierre Wemaëre. Her stay was cut short when Gerda Henning died in 1951. Her husband, Gerhard Henning helped her to take over the workshop which she later moved to Tårbæk where she lived. The Christiansborg project fell through but in 1954 she began work on tapestries for Egmont H. Petersens Kollegium in Copenhagen, inspired by William Scharff's cartoons. That year she also began to work for the architect

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 ...

, creating textiles for the Danish Church in London,

St Jørgensbjerg Church Saint Jørgensbjerg Church ( da, Sankt Jørgensbjerg Kirke) is a historic church in Roskilde on the Danish island of Zealand. With a nave and chancel in travertine, travertine limestone dating from c. 1080, it is Denmark's oldest preserved stone b ...

in Roskilde and Holbæk Church. In 1954, Vibeke Nielsen married Morten Le Klint (1918–1978), son of the architect Kaare Klint, with whom she had three children: Peter, Jakob and Le. In the 1960s, Klint created the tapestry ''Den barmhjertige samaritan'' (The Merciful Samaritan) from a cartoon by

, for Fredericia Town Hall. In 1977, she designed the main curtain for Gladsaxe Church and in 1979, textiles for Copenhagen's Vor Frue Kirke. The same year, together with Randi Studsgarth, she organized the groundbreaking exhibition ''Danske ægte Tæpper'' in the Nikolaj Kunsthal, an exhibition venue in Copenhagen, presenting the recent works of Danish textile artists. In the 1980s, she created textiles for decorating a number of churches in Denmark, and for Danish embassies in Washington D.C., Lima, Paris and Nairobi.

Awards

Vibeki Klink received many awards including the Eckersberg Medal (1978), the Prince Eugen Medal (1996) and the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...

(2000).

References

External links

Examples of Vibeke Klint's work on Artnet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klint, Vibeke 1927 births 2019 deaths People from Frederiksberg Danish textile artists Danish women artists Recipients of the Eckersberg Medal Recipients of the Prince Eugen Medal Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog Recipients of the C.F. Hansen Medal Women textile artists