Mid-Century Modern Danish Teak Tray attributed to Jens Quistgaard, 1950s

A Mid-Century Modern (Scandinavian Modern) Danish teak tray designed by Jens Quistgaard for Dansk of the USA. A Teak tray designed by the highly regarded and very collected Jens Harald Quistgaard, a Danish sculptor, artist and industrial designer, for the American company Dansk (Danish) Designs. Made using steam bent teak staves of wood, the tray forms a beautiful almost boat like sculptural design, which appears to float on the surface. with simplistic paired back forms this piece is typical of Scandinavian Modern design, and the style of Mid Century modern which is so popular and present in much Modern Design. This piece has been cleaned, oiled and is in very good condition, with minor signs of age related wear. Jens Harald Quistgaard (April 23, 1919 – January 4, 2008) was a Danish sculptor and designer, known principally for his work for the American company Dansk Designs, where he was chief designer from 1954 and for the following three decades. Originally an artist and sculptor who was also grounded in traditional handicrafts, he quickly established a career as an industrial designer. from the mid-1950s his tableware and kitchenware designs became synonymous with Scandinavian modern and found their way into millions of homes in the USA, Europe and Japan. with his international orientation and success he was groundbreaking, and he had great significance for the place which Danish design acquired in the minds of many Americans. In 1958, he received the Neiman Marcus Award and during the following years he was represented at major museums in Europe and the USA (please see below) His designs remain timeless with many of Jens Quistgaard’s works still being produced today. Museums where Jens Quistgaard work is held: Designmuseum Danmark, Copenhagen The British Museum, London Museet på Koldinghus, Kolding, Denmark Industrimuseet Frederiks Værk, Frederiksværk, Denmark The Victoria and Albert Museum, London National Museum, Stockholm; MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, New York City The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York City The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York The Philadelphia Museum of Art Indianapolis Museum of Art The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Denver Art Museum, Colorado Das Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts, Leipzig Städtisches Museum, Braunschweig Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Oldenburg The Louvre, Paris Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Kirkland Mueum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver, Colorado Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois The RISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Exhibitions: Charlottenborg spring 1947, 1951–52, 1956 Milan Triennial 1954 Habitations nouvelles, Paris 1955 Annual exhibitions of Danish Arts and Crafts Association, 1940s-60s The Lunning Prise Designers'' Exhibition, New York 1957 DH ''58: Design for the Home, Brooklyn Museum, March 05 - April 27, 1958 Danish Arts and Crafts, Stockholm 1959 The Arts of Denmark, USA 1960-61 Formes danoises: L''art de l''intérieur au Danemark, Exposition itinérante, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon/Palais de la Bourse, Marseille/Musèe Maison de la Culture, Le Havre/Palais des Beaux-Arts. Lille/Galerie Municipale des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux, 1964-1965 Two Centuries of Danish Design, Victoria & Albert Museum, London 1968 Lerchenborg, separate exhibition 1969 Masterworks – 100 years of Danish furniture-making, Kronborg 2000 A Century of Design, Part III, 1950-1975 Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001 Danish National Museum, Copenhagen, Images of Denmark, 2002 Danish Museum of Art and Design, Copenhagen, 2004 Danmarks Nationalbank, Retrospective exhibition, 2006 What Was Good Design, MoMA''s Message 1944-56, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, May 6,2009- Jan 10, 2011 Danish Design - I Like It, Designmuseum Denmark, Copenhagen 2011 Danish Modern: Design for Living, Goldstein Museum of Design, Minnesota 2014 and Figge Art Museum, Iova 2015 DANSK - Design by Jens Quistgaard, Retrospective exhibition, HEART Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, 2015-16 Much More Than One Good Chair, Design & Gesellschaft in Dänemark, Nordische Botschaften, Berlin 2017 einfach gut. Design aus Dänemark, Wilhelm Wagenfeld Haus, Berlin 2018-19 The Value of Good Design, MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Feb.10-Jun.15, 2019 Scandinavian Design and the United States, 1890-1980, Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin, 2020.