The World of Berndt Friberg

“In 1934, Berndt saw an advertisement that Gustavsberg’s porcelain factory was looking for a skilled thrower. He responded and was invited to come and do a trial throw. Wilhelm Kåge was delighted with what he saw. None of the factory’s throwers came anywhere near what this man from Höganäs could do. Until then, Wilhelm Kåge’s narrow-necked vases had been thrown in three parts and then assembled. Moreover, they were not evenly formed but often thicker at the bottom than at the top. Now Kåge saw how Berndt Friberg, elegantly and flawlessly, threw up forms of any size in a single piece. When Berndt Friberg then divided them with an elegant cut, everyone could see how masterfully they had been thrown. On 13 February 1934, Berndt Friberg signed the contract with Gustavsberg’s porcelain factory, and on 12 March he began as a thrower for Wilhelm Kåge. Connoisseurs could therefore, in the mid-1930s, see a marked improvement in Kåge’s thrown forms.”
In his very comprehensive book about Gustavsberg’s porcelain factory, Gösta Arvidsson describes the great importance Berndt Friberg immediately came to have for the firm’s artistic wares. And this was only the beginning.
At Auktionsmagasinet Vänersborg, we now get 52 examples of the art of throwing at its most distinctly Friberg-like. A bowl from 1942 in mild hare’s fur glaze is an early work and a foretaste of what was to come. From it runs a thread of quality all the way up to the high-gloss Aniara-glazed pieces of the 1970s. In between, there is, among other things, a solid vase from 1959 with the glaze saturated in an oxblood color. For those who enjoy ceramics, this is a delight. And for all those who have ever tried to shape a lump of clay on a potter’s wheel themselves, the presented works are almost magic. It is hard not to be captivated.
Welcome to Auktionsmagasinet Vänersborg!