Edward Hald

Edvard Halds Pokal Bollspelande flickor from 1919

Nils Tove Edward Hald (born September 17, 1883 in Stockholm ; † July 4, 1980 ibid) was a Swedish painter , graphic artist and glass artist .

Edward Hald studied at the Leipzig Commercial College and also devoted himself to architecture studies . He received his artistic training from Henri Matisse in Paris . Hald initially worked at the Rörstrand Manufactory , where he designed tableware and was instrumental in the company's success at the home exhibition in Stockholm in 1917 .

In 1917 he came to the Orrefors glassworks , where he designed both art glass and utility glass. Together with his colleague of the same age Simon Gate and the glassblower Knut Bergqvist he developed the so-called Graalglas (graal from the Latin gradalis , cup). Here, multilayered glass in different colors is further processed after cooling by engraving, grinding or sandblasting, which creates colored patterns and reliefs . The glass is then heated again and given an additional layer of clear glass. Eventually it will be blown into its final shape. Graal is a registered trademark of Orrefors .

Edward Hald achieved his international breakthrough together with Simon Gate and the Orrefors glassworks in Paris in 1925 at the Exposition internationale des Arts Décoratifs et industriels modern . The many delicate and graceful works by Swedish artists of this time led to the term Swedish grace , the Swedish variant of Art Déco .

An example of Hald's graceful, elegant and Matisse-inspired glass art was the "Ballspielende Mädchen" ( Bollspelande flickor ) trophy from 1919 and the "Fireworks Bowl " ( Fyrverkeriskålen ) from 1921. Edward Hals' masterpiece and high point of his career, however, was the "Celestial Globe" ( Celestial Globes ), a 53 cm high glass globe with engraved constellations , which was created for the Stockholm exhibition in 1930 , on display today in the National Museum in Stockholm. In the shadow of the global economic crisis in the early 1930s, Hald took over the management of Orrefors (1933–1944). He was forced to strike a balance between economic and artistic interests. He stayed with the company until 1971.

literature

• Alfons Hannes (with contributions by Wolfgang Kermer and Erwin Eisch ): The Wolfgang Kermer Collection, Frauenau Glass Museum : Glass of the 20th Century; 50s to 70s . Schnell & Steiner, Munich, Zurich 1989 (= Bavarian Museums, Volume 9) ISBN 3-7954-0753-2 , p. 112 with illus.

Web links

Commons : Edward Hald  - collection of images, videos and audio files