Søren Georg Jensen (4 October 1917 – 20 September 1982) was a Danish silversmith and sculptor. Son of the noted silversmith

Georg Jensen Georg Arthur Jensen (31 August 1866 in Rådvad – 2 October 1935 in Copenhagen) was a Danish silversmith and founder of Georg Jensen A/S (also known as Georg Jensen Sølvsmedie). Early life Born in 1866, Jensen was the son of a knife gri ...

, he was the artistic director of the Georg Jensen Silversmithy from 1962 to 1974.

Early life and education

Born in Copenhagen, Jensen was trained as a silversmith by his father, Georg Jensen. He then attended Bizzie Høyer's drawing school (1931–36) before studying sculpture at the

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts () has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Danish Academy of Portraiture, Sculpture, and Architecture in Cope ...

under

Einar Utzon-Frank Aksel (Axel) Einar (Ejnar) Utzon-Frank (30 March 1888 – 15 July 1955) was a Danish sculptor and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. During his lifetime, he produced many sculptures, some of which stand as public monuments. U ...

(1941–45). In 1946, he completed his studies under the Russian sculptor

Ossip Zadkine Ossip Alexeevich Zadkine (; 28 January 1888 – 25 November 1967) was a Russian and French artist of the School of Paris. He is best known as a sculptor, but also produced paintings and lithographs. Early years and education Zadkine was born o ...

in Paris.

Biography

One of Jensen's early works was a full-size statue of ''David'' (1946) for which he won the Academy's gold medal. From the beginning of the 1950s, he adopted a Naturalistic approach which became increasingly Abstract. He worked mainly with granite and marble but occasionally with bronze and clay. He also experimented with other materials such as glass or even clay piping. Jensen's sculptural works often consist of interlocking stones, each independently worked. From 1949, Jensen was a designer at the Georg Jensen company, becoming its artistic director from 1962 to 1974. He contributed a series of notable hollowware pieces as well as a few items of jewelry. Inspired by the Functionalist movement, one of his bracelets consisted of broad links clasped together with expanded hinges forming an attractive decorated band. He also incorporated geometrical shapes, for example in cufflinks combining a circular ring with a flat bar. As a silversmith, he often worked in his workshop in the

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, also known as the Louisiana, is an art museum located north of Copenhagen, Denmark. Attracting over 700,000 guests annually, the Louisiana is Scandinavia's most visited museum for Modern art, modern and contempor ...

while as a sculptor, from 1962 he moved to the island of

Bornholm Bornholm () is a List of islands of Denmark, Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. I ...

where he was close to the granite quarries and could rely on the assistance of local stonecutters. In the early 1970s, he spent a period in Italy, working on ''Aurora Septentionalis'' for the Academy. He finally moved to

Pietrasanta Pietrasanta is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of northern Tuscany in Italy, in the province of Lucca. Pietrasanta is part of Versilia, on the last foothills of the Apuan Alps, about north of Pisa. The town is located off the coast, where the ...

in 1976. Jensen's best known creations include ''Tre sten'' (Three Stones, 1965) for the

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark (), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's first polytechnic, and it is today ran ...

, ''Helios Boreios'' (1972) for Bergen University, and, outside the

Foreign Ministry In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

Christianshavn Christianshavn () is a neighbourhood in Copenhagen, Denmark. Part of the Indre By District, it is located on several artificial islands between the islands of Zealand and Amager and separated from the rest of the city centre by the Inner Harbour, ...

, ''Kyklopen, Den lange rejse og Galionsfigur''.

Awards

In 1966, Jensen was awarded the

Eckersberg Medal The Eckersberg Medal (originally the ''Akademiets Aarsmedaille'' or Annual Academy Medal) is an annual award of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. It is named after Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, known as the father of Danish painting. The ...

and, in 1974, the

Thorvaldsen Medal The Thorvaldsen Medal (Danish language, Danish: Thorvaldsens Medalje, Thorvaldsen Medaillen) is awarded annually with few exceptions to a varying number of recipients by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and is its highest distinction within th ...

References

External links

Illustrated list of works by Søren Georg Jensen in Danish museums
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, Soren Georg 1917 births 1982 deaths 20th-century Danish metalsmiths 20th-century Danish sculptors Danish male sculptors Danish silversmiths Danish designers Artisans from Copenhagen Recipients of the Thorvaldsen Medal Recipients of the Eckersberg Medal Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni Burials at Hellerup Cemetery 20th-century Danish male artists