Modern Art + Design presents a historical collection of lighting by Hans Bergström
Hans Bergström The Master of Light
– a historical collection of lighting from ateljé Lyktan
When the young artist Hans Bergström decided in the 1930s to focus his artistic practice on creating modern lighting in Sweden, his decision would revolutionise Swedish lamp manufacturing and the attitude towards electric lighting for the decades that followed. Hans Bergström’s trajectory stretches from 1930s Functionalism to the ‘Swedish Modern’ of the 1940s. When plastics were introduced in the 1950s he was one of the first to implement the new material in modern lighting.
› A ceiling lamp, model ”27”, ateljé Lyktan, Sweden 1940-50s.
›The table lamp that became immensely popular – made explicitly for café Kafferepet. ateljé Lyktan, Helsingborg 1930s.
› Ceiling lamp, model ”153/6”, ateljé Lyktan, Åhus, 1940-50-tal.
At the same time the couple also established a combined design shop and showroom in Kristianstad, where the world could see what they were doing.
As the forties came to an end the light from Ateljé Lyktan shone more brightly than ever before. In connection with an exhibition in 1949 at Bonnier’s new department store in New York, Bergström’s light fittings attracted attention for their sophisticated elegance. When in 1952 his creations were exhibited at the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg, it was, as far as we know, the first time lampshades made from spun plastic were shown publicly. A chandelier with six understated perpendicular pendants sprayed with plastic and hanging together in a cluster left the audiences amazed, as described in an article from September 1952 in the newspaper Göteborgs Handels och Sjöfartstidning. The light fitting in question, marked as ‘model 153’, is also included in the auction’s collection. Worth noting in this context is also the 1954 Tenth Trienniale in Milan, where Bergström was awarded a gold medal for one of his lamps in acrylic glass. We find two of these lights in the collection, in the form of a subtle table lamp in acrylic glass, ‘model 748’.
› Portrait of Hans Bergström
› The two subtle table lamps which Bergström got praised for at the Triennale in Milan in 1954. ”Model 748”, studio Lyktan, Åhus, 1940s-50s.
It is through these achievements, the prominent exhibitions, and his pioneering lighting projects that Bergström gradually became a more widely known name outside of Sweden. He was no longer just a designer – he was a lighting architect. The period between the 1940s and up until the latter part of the 1950s confirmed him as one of the best when it came to architectural lighting, and underlined ateljé Lyktan as a Nordic lighting company at the forefront of innovation. When the Helsingborg Exhibition of 1955 opened its doors, Hans Bergström played a central role amongst the period’s most influential architects.
The architect’s journey is one from strict Functionalism to decorative light fittings and eventually to the discovery of revolutionary new materials, such as acrylic glass and sprayed plastic, which liberated Bergström as a sculptor and offered him completely new possibilities.
Text Johan Jansson, author of the book Ljuset ska vara vitt och lysa fritt – historien om ateljé Lyktan
All lighting in the collection