Our paths first crossed, unknown until many years later, at an intimate yet bustling wedding reception in a south Chicago apartment. This was probably 30 years ago, perhaps even the same year a new gallery, Torno Wright, opened at the end of my street to a fanfare of Eames, heralding new changes to come. Criss-crossing breezes of chance encounters, meandering spirits, hazy focus of time and space, of enthusiasm and knowledge sought, now united again in the same city.
That same serendipity, prompting impulse and discovery, guided welcome reward in the crucible of that great industrial city, still littered with the artefacts of the American mid-century. It was within this uneven yet fertile terrain, hidden slightly below surface, that Patrick’s intuitive talent—honed first as photographer then embellished as artist—would treasure the valuable neglected as passionate collector, and then as the inspirational dealer that I was to meet again, years later in New York City.
If asked to select one word to describe Patrick, I would resist and pick two. The first would be curiosity—a fundamental essential, to stimulate inquiry and rigour in all things, both great and small, of any era or region, type or surface. Even the most fleeting survey of this selection for sale is a celebration of innovation and of inspiration—an unerring eye for the unusually exceptional, or perhaps the exceptionally unusual. The chances are, that these are indeed discoveries that you have not yet realized that you needed to make.
Mentor, would be my second word. If artefacts and objects articulate visual, cultural and historic language, then the fluency of skillful mentorship—to guide, nurture, describe and explain—releases the eloquence of murmuring histories. In this capacity Patrick is that most earnest and sincere of excellent narrators. If ever I had friends, clients or colleagues visiting New York looking for unusual inspiration, there was always the certainty that Patrick’s gallery would offer them a glimpse of the hitherto unseen or the unusually seductive, always with the reassurance of the most fascinating story waiting to be told.
Mentorship and curiosity, when balanced in equal measure, reveal the precious alchemy of a curator. And it is the duty of the mature curator to discern and detect, to cultivate change, and from there to pioneer, and to share. Innovation is never static, and the Present is already the Future. Fresh dialogs evolve, energies to be nurtured, opportunities to be guided. Renewed and re-orientated, Patrick now faces fully forward—as benefactor, interlocutor and mentor to a new, inquisitive generation of talented creators, and the quest for discovery rejuvenates.
— Simon Andrews
andrewsartadvisory.com
Poul Kjaerholm 1929–1980
Danish modern designer Poul Kjærholm was born in 1929 in Østervrå in the north of Denmark. He studied cabinetmaking before matriculating at the Danish School of Arts and Crafts in Copenhagen to learn furniture design. Kjærholm graduated in 1952 and the following year he married his wife Hanne, who went on to become an accomplished architect.
Starting in the mid-1950s, Kjærholm was employed by Ejvind Kold Christensen, who allowed Kjærholm to experiment widely with minimalist forms and industrial materials. In particular, Kjærholm drew stylistic inspiration from designers such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Gerrit Rietveld, and Charles and Ray Eames. To elaborate a bold new vision for mid-century Danish design, Kjærholm endeavored to move away from the rounded, fuller shapes that many had come to expect. Similar to Kaare Klint, Kjærholm wanted to reduce design to its essentials and achieve purity of concept.
Kjærholm attracted early attention with his PK 0 plywood furniture series and his PK 61 coffee table with its sleek steel frame and square top. He began teaching at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen in 1955, focusing on functionalist furniture instruction. In 1956, Kjærholm debuted his iconic PK 22 lounge chair for E. Kold Christensen to match the PK 61 coffee table. The PK 22 was almost universally acclaimed and won the Grand Prize at the Milan Triennale in 1957 as well as the Lunning Award at the Formes Scandinaves exhibition in Paris in 1958.
In 1957, Kjærholm introduced his low-profile PK 80 daybed and three-leg PK 11 dining chair. He released his PK 33 tripod stool in 1959. Kjærholm's style evolved in the 1960s to favor more fluid lines as typified in 1965's hammock-style PK 24 chaise lounge made from steel and woven cane. Kjærholm won the Danish ID Prize for product design in 1967, the year he fashioned his PK 20 rocking chair.
Kjærholm joined the faculty of the Institut for Design in 1973, teaching until his death in 1980. While E. Kold Christensen manufactured Kjærholm’s furniture during his lifetime, Fritz Hansen took over production starting in 1982 and still retails contemporary versions of the most famous lines. In 2004, Kjærholm’s son set up Kjærholm Productions to supplement the market with designs that Fritz Hansen had discontinued. The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark held a Kjærholm retrospective in 2006 and today his designs are on view at various institutions throughout Scandinavia, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
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