Henning Koppel (1918-1981), “Pitcher 992,” 1952.

Acclaimed Danish silversmith Georg Jensen (1866-1935), and the renowned group of designers who helped establish the company he founded as one of the world’s most important silverwares firms, will be the subject of “Georg Jensen Silversmiths,” on view in the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Contemporary Design Gallery (170) from November 17 to March 2007. The exhibition will feature some 40 examples of Georg Jensen Inc’s innovative flatware and hollowware, including original design drawings for many of the objects.

The exhibition is supported by Collab: The Group for Modern and Contemporary Design at the museum, which will honor Georg Jensen and Georg Jensen, Inc, with its 2006 Design Excellence Award at the November 17 opening.

“Georg Jensen forged a unique new style that was at once universal and versatile,” says Kathryn Hiesinger, curator of decorative arts after 1700 at the Philadelphia museum. “Whether a teapot richly decorated with natural forms or a centerpiece left chastely simple, each Jensen object is a complete sculptural statement.”

In addition to examples of Jensen’s own designs, objects by many of the artists whose work has helped define the Georg Jensen style will also be on view, including Johan Rohde, Harald Nielsen, Sigvard Bernadotte, Soren Georg Jensen, Henning Koppel, Magnus Stephensen and Verner Panton. Among the highlights will be drawings for and pieces from Georg Jensen’s 1905 Blossom service – the lids are decorated with a full magnolia bud – and silverwares and drawings by Soren Georg Jensen and Henning Koppel, whose abstract, expressive shapes in the mid-Twentieth Century led the firm in new directions.

Georg Jensen (1866-1935), “Candelabrum 383A,” 1921.

Georg Jensen was born in Radvaad, Denmark, a small, country village north of Copenhagen. At the age of 14, he was apprenticed to a silversmith in Copenhagen, and went on to study sculpture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Upon graduation in 1892, Jensen made and exhibited his sculpture, but supported himself as a ceramics modeler, first at the Bing & Grøndahl porcelain factory and then in an independent partnership with Christian Joachim.

Their work won Jensen recognition and a travel grant to Paris, Rome and Florence. He returned to the silversmithing trade and by 1904 opened his first shop on a fashionable street in Copenhagen. He opened shops in Berlin (1909), Stockholm and Paris (1918), London (1921), and New York (1924), and won prizes at international exhibitions in San Francisco (1915), Barcelona (1923) and Paris (1925). After 1924, Jensen’s involvement with the firm was limited, although he remained its artistic director until his death in 1935.

Examples of Jensen’s work can be seen in collections throughout the world, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the National Gallery, Melbourne; the National Museum, Stockholm; and the Danish Museum of Decorative Art, Copenhagen.

Jensen’s early training as a sculptor and silversmith influenced his designs and the idyllic landscape of his childhood was reflected in his work throughout his career. His interest in nature and natural forms was also in keeping with Art Nouveau principles current in Paris and elsewhere at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Jensen drew inspiration from fruits, leaves and flowers, translating them into silver ornaments. Like other modern artists and craftsmen, he preserved the evidence of process that went into the making of a work, often enriching the surface of his silverwares with visible hammer marks.

Collab is a nonprofit group that raises funds for the museum’s modern and contemporary design collection, which ranges from appliances and furniture to ceramics, glass, metalwork and works on paper. Its annual Design Excellence Award is presented to a design professional who has made a significant contribution to the field.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For information, 215-763-8100 or www.philamuseum.org.