Art Nouveau Jewelry in Denmark

Art Nouveau was a style in decorative arts, popular between 1890 and 1910 in Europe. In French "Art Nouveau" means "new art",  and its' typical features are ornamets with plants and flowers as well as curved, natural forms. Artists wanted to achieve harmony with nature in their creations.

Art Nouveau style was applied to every exisiting type of creative work, not only decorative items, painting and sculpture, but also to architecture, furniture and household items. Art Nouveau was especially popular in Western and Northern Europe, although it was spread all over the world.

In Denmark Art Nouveau style was localized and given name "skønvirke", which means "aesthetic work". In Denmark skønvirke style wasn't applied in architecture, but was widely applied in designing of smaller household items and especially jewelry. The majority of skønvirke style jewelry was made in sterling silver. It was a beautiful connection between cold and hard metals and  and natural, organic and floral shapes.

But it's not only sterling silver which was used in skønvirke jewelry. Enamel and semi-precious gemstones were used widely for the first time in history of Danish jewelry tradition. The main reason behind it was goldsmiths' willingness to design affordable jewelry, which anyone could buy. Another reason for using such unuasual for that time materials was the desire for bright colors, which both semi-precious stones and colored enamel could provide. This was it was possible to make very bright and naturalistic jewelry pieces in shapes of leaves, flowers, and so on.

Many skønvirke style jewelry designers were people, who were trained for arts and crafts, for instance painters. Having that kind of skills together with goldsmithing skills was important at that time, as the artists started working not only with precious metals, but also with colors, making their creations bright and outstanding.

At that time Danish Museum of Decorative Art was established, which encouraged artists to exhibit their works, which inspired other artists. The museum's collection was expanded by works of various French and English artists, and it influenced Danish designers a lot.

Even now, hundred years later, Danish jewelry garments from skønvirke period are valuable among collectors all over the world due to the sophisticated style and original taste for jewelry.

As skønvirke represent a very important period in the development of Danish design, the following posts will be dedicated to the most famous Danish goldsmiths and designers of skønvirke epoch. Stay tuned!