PRESS RELEASE
ARNE JACOBSEN
The Egg by Tal R
opening Tuesday 15th April 2008
from 7.00 pm to 11.00 pm
Tal R will attend the opening
from 21st April to 27th April 2008
Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10.30 am – 7.30 pm
Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 10.30 am – 9.00 pm
from 16th April to 20th April 2008
10.30 am – 9.00 pm
cocktail everyday from 7.00 pm to 9.00 pm
Galleria Carla Sozzani
Corso Como 10 – Milano
Tel. 02.653531 – Fax 02.29004080
press@galleriacarlasozzani.org
www.galleriacarlasozzani.org
ARNE JACOBSEN
The Egg by Tal R
Arne Jacobsen has been an architect and above all one of the most influential designers of
the past century.
As a child his dream was to become a painter, but his father made him study architecture.
After he graduated at the Royal Academy of Arts in Copenhagen in 1927, Jacobsen
opened his architecture studio; due to his Jewish origins, he had to leave it in 1943 to
escape to Sweden.
After Second World War he returned to Denmark to dedicate himself to architecture and
interior design. During those years he started to collaborate with Danish company Fritz
Hansen, designing objects and furniture (especially chairs and armchairs) that reached an
incredible fame and still are renewed worldwide. Many of those chairs are still produced by
Fritz Hansen, in particular the prestigious Egg chair, firstly designed by Jacobsen in 1958.
The Egg is the result of Jacobsen’s studies on harmony and fluidity in forms: originally
designed for the SAS Royal Hotel of Copenhagen, The Egg was inspired by the form of an
egg-shell to keep people’s intimacy away from the indiscretion of a crowed place like the
lobby of a hotel. It is perhaps for its original purpose that the Egg chair still preserves a
cosmopolitan allure and a sophisticated look.
On the occasion of “Salone del Mobile” of Milan, Galleria Carla Sozzani dedicates an
exhibition to this cult object, showing 50 exemplars of the Egg chair, reinterpreted for the
occasion with new textiles by artist Tal R.
Born in 1967 in Israel, Tal R takes inspiration from everyday life: music, comic books,
television and graphic design from old videogames. His style escapes every possible
definition: “Kolbojnik” (literally “leftover” in Hebrew) is often used by the artist as a word to
describe his collages and assemblages works, “visual goulashes” indeed, full of chaos and
movement.
Tal R created 50 exemplars of the Egg using patchwork technique, and personalizing
each chair with original and unique textiles from his private collection of artist’s fabrics.
The Egg by Tal R is a series that visually expresses the first 50 years of life of this
prestigious armchair: each piece of fabric composing these patchworks represents a
period of time with past and present trends, proposed to the public like a multicolour
genealogic tree.
Arne Jacobsen BIOGRAPHY
1902, Arne Jacobsen is born in Copenhagen
1924, he graduates from the Technical College of Copenhagen
1925, he goes to French and Italy to study
1927, he graduates at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture,
Copenhagen
1928, he is awarded with Gold Medal for his National Museum of Klampenborg project
proposal
1929, he is awarded the first prize for “The Home of the Future”,
Arkitektföreningen architectural contest
1930-1935, designs Bellevue residencies near Copenhagen
1937-1938, designs the Stelling House in Copenhagen
1943, moves to Sweden where he stays until the end of Second World War
1952, designs the chair “The Ant” for Danish company Fritz Hansen
1954, he is awarded with the “Honor Prize” at the São Paulo Biennial
1955, designs the town hall of Rødrove and presents the chair “series 7”
1956, teaches at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Copenhagen, untill 1965; designs
SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen
1958, designs “The Egg” chair, produced by Fritz Hansen
1962, Danish Architect's Association tributes him the Gold Medal of Honor
1963, becomes honorary member of the American Institute of Architects
1965, becomes member of Accademia Nazionale di San Luca in Rome
1966, the Oxford University of England confers him the Degree Honoris Causa
1970, designs the HEW office spaces in Hamburg.
1971, 3rd of March – Arne Jacobsen dies in Copenhagen
Tal R BIOGRAPHY
1967, Tal R is born in Israel
1994-2000, attends the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen
2000, teaches at the Kunstakademie of Helsinki
2005, teaches at the Kunstakademie of Düsseldorf
lives and works in Copenhagen
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2008, The Look, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokio
2007, The Sum, Louisiana Museum for Moderne Kunst, Humlebaek, Danimarca
2006, Le peintre n'est pas là, Zach Feuer Gallery, New York
2005, Pink, Yellow, Brown, Black, Green, White, Red Galleria Nicolai Wallner,
Copenhagen.
2004, House of Prince Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin
2003, New Born, But Same Old Phone Number Tal Esther Gallery, Tel Aviv;
Arcade BAWAG, Vienna;
Lords of Kolbojnik Victoria Miro Gallery, London.
2001, Lord Madras Hostrup-Pedersen & Johansen, Copenhagen Live at Club Sombi
Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin.
2000, Dinglebær Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen.
1998, Bicycle Thieves Beret International Gallery, Chicago
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2007, “xxs“, Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv
2006, The Triumph of Painting IV, Saatchi Gallery, London
2003, 10 Year Anniversary Exhibition Galleria Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen.
2002, The gallery show Royal Academy of Arts, London Carnegie Art Award, Stockholm
Ars Fennica Henna and Pertti Niemistö Art Foundation, Helsinki.
2001, Artists from Berlin, Los Angeles and New York Victoria Miro Gallery, London
Works on paper from Acconci to Zittel Victoria Miro Gallery, London.
2000, Painterly: 11th Vilnius Painting Triennial Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius
Organising Freedom: Nordic Art of the 90s Moderna Museet, Stockholm
ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fruits, Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin, Berlin, 2006.
House of Prince, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, 2005.
Imagination Becomes Reality: Part I, Expanded Paint Tools, Ingvild Goetz, 2005.
Last Drawing Before Mars, Zach Feuer Gallery, 2004.
The Look, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokio, 2007.
The Sum, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, 2007.