Wilhelm Kåge
From a Swedish Private Collection
Bukowskis presents a large collection of ceramics by Wilhelm Kåge. The present collection has been carefully built over more than 20 years, with the most important objects being acquired at various auctions.
The collector in question has placed extra importance on the provenance of the objects and much of what has been acquired has come directly from Wilhelm Kåge’s private collection. Several of the pieces are depicted in Gisela Eronn’s “Wilhelm Kåge Keramikens mästare” published in 2006, and also notable in this context is the interior photo of Kåge’s home on Fjällgatan in Stockholm that can be found in Nils Palmgren’s “Wilhelm Kåge”, published in 1953, where some of the vases and bowls that are present in this sale are depicted in the artist’s bookshelf.
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Wilhelm Kåge
Wilhelm Kåge was the artistic director of the Gustavsberg porcelain factory from 1917 to 1949, and initiated the artistic workshop Gustavsbergs Studio in 1942. As a leading figure in the birth of the Swedish decorative art industry, as well as its march to international recognition, Kåge became a pioneer in the true sense of the word, and during this era in Swedish design history the leading name in the fieldof ceramics.
In 1953, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm held a major retrospective exhibition of Wilhelm Kåge. The exhibition highlighted his importance for Swedish ceramics, especially his artistic ”Farsta” stoneware. The present sale includes a total of 41 selected lots from this collection, which mainly consists of ”Farsta” objects. One of the collection’s main works can be found in one of the photos from the Nationalmuseum exhibition of 1953.
Wilhelm Kåge gained broad international recognition already during his lifetime. When The New York Times reviewed a Kåge exhibition in New York in 1958, the paper described him as one of the three most important contemporary ceramicists in the world. His long friendship and artistic exchange with Japanese master Shōji Hamada is highlighted in the current exhibition “Wilhelm Kåge & Shōji Hamada – Ceramics Across Borders” at Nationalmuseum, running from April 23, 2026 to February 28, 2027.
The collection comprises lot no 98-138.
The Entire Collection at Modern Art & Design
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