Torbjörn Lenskog’s IndustrialDesign Collection to the NationalmuseumMaria Perers, Curator, Applied Art and Design

Art Bulletin ofNationalmuseum

Stockholm

Volume 23

4Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volume 23, 2016

© The National Library of Sweden, Stockholm(Fig. 4, p. 38. Fig. 21, p. 211. Fig. 28, p. 215)© Alte Nationalgallerie, Berlin(Fig. 2, p. 40)© Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg(Fig. 3, p. 41)© Neue Pinakothek, Munich(Fig. 5, p. 43)© The Morgan Library & Museum, New York(Fig. 4, p. 109. Fig. 32–33, p. 217)© The Matthiesen Gallery, London(Fig. 1, p. 108)© The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford(Fig. 2, p. 122)© Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis(Fig. 3, p. 123)© Robilant + Voena (Fig. 4, p. 124)© The Swedish National Archives, Stockholm(Fig. 3, p. 204)© The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City. Photo: Joshua Ferdinand(Fig. 4, p. 205)© Musée du Louvre, Paris. RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY(Fig. 5, p. 205)© Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna(Fig. 8, p. 207)© The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program(Fig. 10, p. 208. Fig. 30, p. 216)© Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam(Fig. 11, p. 208)© The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York(Fig. 18, p. 210. Fig. 23, p. 212. Fig. 31, p. 216)© Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia(Fig. 24, p. 213. Fig. 26, p. 214)© Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis. John Herron Fund. (Fig. 25, p. 213) © Stockholms auktionsverk(Fig. 8, p. 136)

Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, is published with generous support from the Friends of the Nationalmuseum.

Nationalmuseum collaborates with Svenska Dagbladet and Grand Hôtel Stockholm. We would also like to thank FCB Fältman & Malmén.

Cover IllustrationChristoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783–1853), Danish. “Ciociara”– Portrait of a Roman Country Girl, 1816. Oil on canvas, 52 x 46.5 cm. Purchase: Wiros Fund. NM 7334.

PublisherBerndt Arell, Director General

EditorLudvig Florén and Magnus Olausson

Editorial CommitteeJanna Herder, Linda Hinners, Merit Laine, Lena Munther, Magnus Olausson, Martin Olin, Maria Perers and Lidia Westerberg Olofsson

PhotographsNationalmuseum Photographic Studio/Linn Ahlgren, Bodil Beckman, Erik Cornelius, Anna Danielsson, Cecilia Heisser, Sofia Persson, Per-Åke Persson and Hans Thorwid

Picture EditorRikard Nordström

Photo Credits© Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen(Fig. 5, p. 21. Fig. 1, p. 36)© Amsterdams Historisch Museum, Amsterdam(Fig. 2, p. 32)© Trustees of the British Museum, London(Fig. 3, p. 33. Fig. 6, p. 38)© The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland(Fig. 2, p. 36)

Graphic DesignBIGG

LayoutAgneta Bervokk

Translation and Language EditingGabriella Berggren, William Jewson, David Jones and Martin Naylor

PublishingLudvig Florén, Magnus Olausson (Editors) and Ingrid Lindell (Publications Manager)

Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum is published annually and contains articles on the history and theory of art relating to the collections of the Nationalmuseum.

NationalmuseumBox 16176SE–103 24 Stockholm, Swedenwww.nationalmuseum.se© Nationalmuseum, the authors and the owners of the reproduced works

ISSN 2001-9238

115 Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volume 23, 2016

acquisitions/torbjörn lenskog’s industrial design collection to the nationalmuseum

Torbjörn Lenskog’s Industrial Design Collection to the Nationalmuseum

Maria PerersCurator, Applied Art and Design

Fig. 1 Torbjörn Lenskog.

The shelves in Torbjörn Lenskog’s home are crammed with 20th-century design classics from 1915 to 1975. Rowsof streamlined irons that conveyed effi-ciency to rational housewives of the time. Electrolux’s revolutionary vacuum cleaner on runners that made cleaning easier. The history of the electric shaver is told by original packaging, from aerodynamic maroon to elegant black from Braun.As industrial design became the newprofession of the era, masses of new products were launched to make life easier at home and in the office. Lenskog has collected thousands of objects that reflect this change. Now, the Friends of the Nationalmuseum’s newly-started Design Fund has enabled the Museum to acquire several key design objects that tell us how life became modern in the 1900s. The purchase of 23 items from Torbjörn Lenskog’s collection will enhance the Museum’s collection of Swedish industrial design inspired by American and German products, and key works from designhistory. (See pp. 195, NMK 332–354/2016)

Appliances that had previously been heavy and bulky became smaller and more convenient. Like when Raymond Loewy created the practical camera PurmaSpecial in 1937, that you could easily carry in your pocket, as a symbol of how photography had become an inexpensivehobby. Only a decade earlier, the first mass-produced 35 mm cameras had made it possible for more people to take their

116Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volume 23, 2016

own pictures. In the 1950s, Marcello Nizzoli designed modern calculators and typewriters with functional contours and distinctly designed graphics for numerals and letters. And a couple of decades later, the calculator had become so small that it was portable. These are examples of items that are now in the Nationalmuseum collection.

This is not the first time Torbjörn Lenskog has contributed to the National-museum’s activities. The exhibition Reternity in 1996–1997 featured a couple of hundred works from his collection,1 but his focus has not always been on design. It all began when his wife Ulla gave him a Linnaeus medallion, and he wondered how many pictures there could be of the famous 18th-century botanist. He went on to collect all the books he could find. When the collection was complete, he sold it and switched to chemistry. In collec-ting, Lenskog found a sense of peace in his hectic life as a successful advertising professional. He was able to enjoy the little things instead of producing. Eventually, his interest transferred to design instead of books. One day in a curiosity shop, Lenskog suddenly recognised a smell from the past. He was holding a little box that reminded him of the smell when his father shaved with his Bakelite shaver. There had been a box like this one in the medicine cabinet when Lenskog was a child.

Recently, he felt ready to part with some of his design collection, so thateveryone can enjoy it at the National-museum. The focus of his collecting now is French powder compacts from the early 20th century. The graphic design of these artefacts appeals to Lenskog, and there might be a book one day when his collec-tion is complete.

Notes: 1. Jakob Lind (ed.), Reternity: Torbjörn Lenskogs designsamling kommenterad av sju konstnärer, Nationalmuseum (exh. cat. no. 595), Stockholm 1996.

acquisitions/torbjörn lenskog’s industrial design collection to the nationalmuseum

Fig. 3 Marcello Nizzoli (1887–1969), Calculating machine “Divisumma GT 24”. Produced by Olivetti, 1956. Metal, plastic, electronic components, 25 x 24 x 42 cm (h x w x d). Gift of the Friends of the Nationalmuseum. Nationalmuseum, NMK 349/2016.

Fig. 2 Raymond Loewy (1893–1986), Camera and case ”Purma Special”, 1937. Produced by PurmaCameras Ltd, 1937–51. Bakelite, acrylic, metal, case in leather, metal, camera 7.2 x 15 x 5.5 cm, case 8.7 x 17 x 5.5 cm (h x w x d). Gift of the Friends of the Nationalmuseum. Nationalmuseum, NMK 335A–B/2016.