Finn Juhl studied architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts under Kay Fisker from 1930 to 1934, after which he worked with the architect Vilhelm Lauritzens until he established his own architectural practice in 1945. In 1937 Juhl made his debut at the Cabinetmakers’ Guild Exhibition in Copenhagen, a yearly exhibition in which he would participate through 1961, winning sixteen prizes over the course of twenty-four years.

Throughout Juhl’s training and early career, Danish furniture design was largely defined by the principles of Kaare Klint, a leading architect, teacher, and mentor to a generation of Danish architects and furniture designers. Klint’s historical typologies, stripped of ornamentation so that only the basic form and construction techniques remained, were incredibly popular. Juhl, who had not studied under Klint, did not feel obliged to follow his dictums and instead combined organic or biomorphic shapes with newly conceived frames or supports into elegant and harmonious forms.

Juhl’s diverse influences included the Art Nouveau style, the landscape of his native Denmark, and the architecture of Le Corbusier. He remarked, “I loved the way Corbusier divided his rooms into components. I tried to design a chair in the same way, so the carrying structure was emphasized as one thing and the seat and back were just surfaces to give rest to a man’s body.”¹ Indeed, Juhl’s Armchair, Model 45 reflects this desire in that, for the first time, the frame and body of the chair are separate, with the seat/back floating away from the support structure. The arms and armrests of Model 45 are also distinctive within his oeuvre for their organic curves, which reflect the Danish landscape. “We are influenced, among other things, by the terrain of the country in which we live,” Juhl remarked. “Denmark is a neat country. The landscape is not very exciting but full of low, fine, gentle curves.”²

The Model 45 chair was originally designed by Juhl and made by Niels Vodder for a “Room for a Managing Director” at the 1945 Cabinetmakers’ Guild Exhibition. The noted Danish architect Erik Herløw described its presence there: “Finn Juhl does not design on a refinement of traditions but has instead logically solved functions and therefrom shaped furniture on his terms. . . . Most beautiful is an armchair, where the frame is organically shaped as a bone, able to support the muscles of an arm and the weight of a body. The expression of the chair is reminiscent of a weapon, sharpened by human hands.”³

Armchair, Model 45 was produced by Niels Vodder for a number of years, resulting in the chair being called the Model NV45. The Museum’s early example retains its original upholstery and was retailed by Illums Bolighus, the famous Danish department store whose home design section sold the most up-to-date Scandinavian designs. Juhl often included his furniture designs in interior and architectural projects. Armchair, Model 45 was featured in the Scandinavian Airlines system ticket offices throughout Europe and Asia in the 1950s and in the residence of the Danish ambassador in Washington, D.C., in 1960. —Cindi Strauss