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Abstract
Since the 1960s Denmark has become internationally renowned for its architecture and design output. The work of Danish modernist architects and designers working on terra firma is very well known, but very little has been written about their influence on the design of merchant ships. This article examines the manifestation of Danish architectural modernism in the interior design of Danish and other Scandinavian-owned passenger ships built between the mid-1930s and the mid-1960s. It explains how the Danish Modern Movement in architecture and design had distinct characteristics from other avant-gardes in visual culture of the early-to-mid twentieth century and argues that its respect for tradition was advantageous when engaging with ship owners, naval architects and shipbuilders. It focuses in particular on ship interiors designed by the architects Kay Fisker, Palle Suenson and Kay Kørbing and shows how their designs became ‘floating ambassadors’ for Danish and Scandinavian modernism more generally.
Notes
1 A version of this article was first presented at the Scottish Maritime History Conference in Glasgow in 2018.
2 Kjærgaard’s recollections of working with Fisker on ship interiors were additionally published in the Danish architecture history journal, Architectura. See Kjærgaard, ‘Kay Fisker Til Søs’, 151–73.
3 Le Corbusier, Vers une architecture, 69–80. Aquitania also featured on the cover of the book.
4 See Faber, Kay Fisker, for a detailed overview of Fisker’s early career.
5 Ibid.
6 ‘The Passenger Ship Hammershus’, The Motor Ship, Aug. 1936.
7 Kjærgaard, ‘Kay Fisker til Søs’, 152.
8 Thorsøe, et al., DFDS 1866–1991, 265–9.
9 Ibid., 349.
10 ‘The Passenger Ship Hammershus’, The Motor Ship, Aug. 1936.
11 Kjærgaard, ‘Kay Fisker til Søs’, 153.
12 Today Henningsen is internationally famous for his ‘PH’ range of lights, manufactured by Louis Poulsen, which have come to be regarded as ‘design classics’.
13 Kjærgaard, ‘Kay Fisker til Søs’, 161–2. See also ‘The Passenger Ship Hammershus’, The Motor Ship, Aug. 1936.
14 Frigaard and Jacobsen (eds), BornholmsTrafikken, 18.
15 Kjærgaard, ‘Kay Fisker til Søs’, 158.
16 Documents and general correspondence in the archive of the consulting naval architects Knud E. Hansen in Elsinore consulted by the author in August 2006.
17 Kjærgaard, ‘Kay Fisker til Søs’, 161.
18 Ibid. See also ‘The Fastest Copenhagen–Oslo Passenger Ship’, The Motor Ship, Feb. 1938.
19 Minutes of the Board of Directors of DFDS, 12 Sep. 1938, 3, copy in the author’s collection. See also Peter, DFDS 150, 157.
20 Dawson and Peter, Ship Style, 80–1 and 87–9.
21 Kjærgaard, ‘Kay Fisker til Søs’, 167.
22 Ibid., 168.
23 ‘The M.S. Kronprinsesse Ingrid: A 21-knot vessel for the Harwich–Esbjerg service’, The Motor Ship, Jul. 1949.
24 ‘The Passenger Ship Kongedybet’, The Motor Ship, May 1952.
25 ‘The new Kronprins Frederik: Reconstruction of the 4,000-ton Harwich–Esbjerg passenger ship’, The Motor Ship, Jun. 1954.
26 See Casper and Hancke Crone, Arkitekten Palle Suenson.
27 Peter, Knud E. Hansen A/S, 17.
28 ‘A 20½-knot Passenger Ship: The M.S. Jens Bang for service between Copenhagen and Aalborg’, The Motor Ship, Jul. 1950.
29 Nørgaard Olesen, Aalborgbådene, 198.
30 Interview with Kay Kørbing by Bruce Peter on 6 Jan. 2000.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid.
33 Illustrations of the interior are to be found in brochures promoting the carriage of passengers of DFDS’ transatlantic services, several of which are in the author’s collection.
34 The manufacturer was the Copenhagen lighting specialist Lyfa.
35 Manufactured by I. Thorballs Eftf, also of Copenhagen.
36 ‘The Copenhagen–Oslo Passenger ship Prinsesse Margrethe’, Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, Aug. 1957. See also ‘A 21 ½-knot Passenger Ship: The Prinsesse Margrethe’, The Motor Ship, Sep. 1957.
37 ‘The Copenhagen–Oslo Passenger ship Prinsesse Margrethe’, Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, Aug.1957.
38 Salmon, ‘Modernising British Transport 7: Channel Island Ships’, 59–65.
39 ‘England – Largest Passenger Ship in the North Sea Service’, The Motor Ship, Jul. 1964. See also ‘Sagafjord: A New Norwegian–America Liner’, Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, Oct. 1965.
40 ‘England’, Mobilia, 110–11 (1964), 8–10.
41 Ibid., 16–19.
42 ‘Sagafjord: A New Norwegian–America Liner’, Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, Oct. 1965.
43 The Manchester Guardian, 7 Jan. 1967.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Bruce Peter
Bruce Peter is professor of design history at the Glasgow School of Art. His research relates mainly to architecture and design for transport and leisure and entertainment. His PhD investigated relationships between architecture of pleasure and the modern movement in the inter-war era. Subsequent research has examined the design and material culture of cruise ships, ro-ro ferries and container shipping and logistics.