Lars Kinsarvik
Armchaircirca 1905

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 2

No image

Artist or Maker: Lars Kinsarvik
Norway, 1846-1925
Title: Armchair
Date Made: circa 1905
Medium: Carved and polychromed wood
Dimensions: 50 13/16 × 25 9/16 × 24 13/16 in. (129 × 65 × 63 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Bruce Newman through the 2022 Decorative Arts and Design Acquisitions Committee (DA²)
Accession Number: M.2022.86
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: Described as “the most imaginative and skilled artist of the Viking revival,” Lars Kinsarvik was a champion of Norwegian national identity in the decades around 1900. By distilling the past, romantic nationalists such as Kinsarvik hoped to seize the future—not to be buffeted by outside forces but grounded by the essential nature of what it means to be Norwegian. This majestic chair embodies Kinsarvik’s Viking revival style. The head of a fierce warrior, flanked by two other faces, dominates the crest rail; complex polychromed interlace patterns adorn every surface except the seat. Restaurants and hotels were often furnished with such assertions of national identity, and Kinsarvik’s workshop produced chairs, tables, and wood carvings for many of them. Similar forms were made for a café in Trondheim, but this example is more elaborate, and its outstanding original condition suggests that the general public probably never had the pleasure of sitting on it.

Kinsarvik trained with his painter/carpenter father and at art school in Stavanger before choosing wood carving as his profession. Like many proponents of Arts and Crafts movement ideals, he embraced the imagery found in medieval churches and vernacular traditions. The assertion of national identity through design played a significant role in Norway’s drive for political independence. The country had been controlled by Denmark for centuries until 1814, when it came under Swedish rule, and only after decades of struggle did it succeed in dissolving that union in 1905.

Like his fellow Norwegians, Kinsarvik embraced the mythology surrounding the Vikings of the Middle Ages—a time when they were the conquerors. Archaeological excavations of Viking ships fueled the revival, also known as “the dragon style.” Kinsarvik proselytized for it internationally, displaying a tour-de-force drinking horn at the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 and a chair at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris, where Norway insisted on having its own pavilion separate from Sweden’s as a declaration of cultural autonomy.

Wendy Kaplan, Department Head and Curator, Decorative Arts and Design

Related Unframed

Lars Kinsarvik
Armchaircirca 1905

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 2

No image

Artist or Maker: Lars Kinsarvik
Norway, 1846-1925
Title: Armchair
Date Made: circa 1905
Medium: Carved and polychromed wood
Dimensions: 50 13/16 × 25 9/16 × 24 13/16 in. (129 × 65 × 63 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Bruce Newman through the 2022 Decorative Arts and Design Acquisitions Committee (DA²)
Accession Number: M.2022.86
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: Described as “the most imaginative and skilled artist of the Viking revival,” Lars Kinsarvik was a champion of Norwegian national identity in the decades around 1900. By distilling the past, romantic nationalists such as Kinsarvik hoped to seize the future—not to be buffeted by outside forces but grounded by the essential nature of what it means to be Norwegian. This majestic chair embodies Kinsarvik’s Viking revival style. The head of a fierce warrior, flanked by two other faces, dominates the crest rail; complex polychromed interlace patterns adorn every surface except the seat. Restaurants and hotels were often furnished with such assertions of national identity, and Kinsarvik’s workshop produced chairs, tables, and wood carvings for many of them. Similar forms were made for a café in Trondheim, but this example is more elaborate, and its outstanding original condition suggests that the general public probably never had the pleasure of sitting on it.

Kinsarvik trained with his painter/carpenter father and at art school in Stavanger before choosing wood carving as his profession. Like many proponents of Arts and Crafts movement ideals, he embraced the imagery found in medieval churches and vernacular traditions. The assertion of national identity through design played a significant role in Norway’s drive for political independence. The country had been controlled by Denmark for centuries until 1814, when it came under Swedish rule, and only after decades of struggle did it succeed in dissolving that union in 1905.

Like his fellow Norwegians, Kinsarvik embraced the mythology surrounding the Vikings of the Middle Ages—a time when they were the conquerors. Archaeological excavations of Viking ships fueled the revival, also known as “the dragon style.” Kinsarvik proselytized for it internationally, displaying a tour-de-force drinking horn at the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 and a chair at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris, where Norway insisted on having its own pavilion separate from Sweden’s as a declaration of cultural autonomy.

Wendy Kaplan, Department Head and Curator, Decorative Arts and Design