Postwar Art and Design of Northern Europe. Lecture supported by "Project 900" salon

Post-war Europe, faced with a great tragedy, fully felt that not only material goods were destroyed, but also the previous humanistic values ​​were lost. All new art from 1945 to 1968 protested against the old world and was formed as a reflection on global events of the era: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Iron Curtain, space exploration, youth uprisings, consumer boom. Abstractionism and the art of optical illusions, audacious pranks and performances, kinetic installations, synergy of poetry, music and theater — this is the outlet of the emotions of the horror of war and the struggle for freedom against a dictatorial regime.

Sweden, which maintained military neutrality, was a saving oasis for architects, designers and artists who fled here. When the architect Josef Frank moved from Austria, the Swedes saw in him a comrade in a rational and functional spirit. At that moment, a new design philosophy began to emerge in Northern Europe: the rational use of material and conciseness of forms, the availability of household items for the poor and the romanticization of everyday life, the development of crafts and escape from the harsh climate in interiors. Gradually, these ideas formed the style we call Scandinavian or Nordic.

The design of the northern states did not succumb to a radical direction, so it remained timeless forever. "Shell" by Hans Wegner, "Chief" by Finn Jules, "Ant" by Arne Jacobsen, "Ball" by Eero Aarnio have become archetypal forms that have been repeatedly interpreted by famous factories and organically exist in interiors today.