back to the direct poster expression that we see for example in the Tivoli poster (1981). Wiinblad’s poster universe is multifarious,13 and the gouache models for these posters underscore Wiinblad’s indisputable talent as a colourist and communicator. Wiinblad’s first ceramic workshop In 1952, Wiinblad’s great success with the first posters made it possible for him to buy and set up his own ceramic workshop at Hjortekær in Kongens Lyngby north of Copenhagen. There he continued his production of horndecorated one-off works, but also began, with the assistance of his staff of ‘painter-girls’, on a huge production of both small and large decorated faience works – the same as those produced to this day by the ‘painter-girls’ in The Blue House after Wiinblad originals. These faiences together create a vast universe populated by the figures that Wiinblad named Eva, Titania, Dyveke, Tulipa, Celestine etc. It was also through this production that the four seasons, the festive flower arrangements
and his Tivoli Fountain became known. The faiences were usually blue-painted – a mode of expression for which Wiinblad found inspiration in both Chinese porcelain and Dutch faience. In The Blue House one can today experience Wiinblad’s overwhelming collections of blue-painted faience and porcelain; for example in the blue dining room and in the open fireplace room, where Delft Blue from Holland and the fine blue-painted white porcelain from China are mixed on walls, shelves, tables, assemblages and in display cases. Wiinblad was a passionate collector of both genres, while his own new interpretations of blue-painted faience became collectors’ items and were loved by people all over the world. His major collectors include people all the way from Norwegian housewives to the late Queen Ingrid and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The German porcelain giant In 1957 Philip Rosenthal, the director of Rosenthal Porzellan AG, was introduced to 35
13 Wiinblad made posters for UniceF, tiVoli, the national society for the Prevention of eye diseases, advertising posters, theatre, concert and book posters etc.
candlestick with female head, n.d. Faience with brush decoration. Wiinblad’s home is full of art from all over the world and many eras. often Wiinblad drew inspiration from his private art collection, and this found expression in form, colour and ornamentation. this is his brush-decorated candlestick in faience inspired by a woman’s head from antiquity. opposite page: Pitcher with colour codes, 1971. Wiinblad’s assistants were popularly called ‘the painter girls’. they helped Wiinblad to fill his works with colour in accordance with the colour codes indicated by Wiinblad.