# Skønvirke (Danish Art Nouveau, Bindesbøll)

> The Danish answer to Art Nouveau, around 1890–1920, seen in print above all in Thorvald Bindesbøll's work: heavy, roughly drawn hand lettering locked into dense ornament of swelling tendrils, cloud and wave forms. Labels, logos, covers and vignettes are framed and centred, in black with one or two flat colours. Bindesbøll kept his ornament abstract; the wider movement added stylised wild flowers, insects and sea life. Both trade Art Nouveau's thin whiplash line and female figures for blunt, swelling masses. The 1904 Carlsberg label is still in use in adapted form.

- Period: 1890–1920
- Where: Northern Europe
- Origin: Copenhagen. The Danish style that ran parallel to Jugendstil and Art Nouveau, a blend of them and Arts and Crafts with Nordic national romanticism, traceable to about 1890; it was named at a 1907 exhibition at the Kunstindustrimuseet (now Designmuseum Danmark), and the magazine Skønvirke followed in 1914. Its motifs came from Danish flora and fauna, wild flowers, insects and sea life, and from medieval church murals and Nordic interlace (ormeslyng, vikingeslyng). Its graphic side rests above all on the architect-designer Thorvald Bindesbøll (1846–1908), called the spiritual father of the skønvirke era, who turned from architecture to ceramics, bindings, labels, logos and book ornament and kept his own ornament abstract.
- Branch: Craft & organic
- Also known as: Skønvirke, Skønvirkestil, Danish Art Nouveau, Bindesbøll style
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/skonvirke/

## How it works

- Draw the name by hand in blunt, weighty letters and make them part of the ornament, not a caption set apart from it.
- Fill the field around a centred name with scrolls that swell into leaf, cloud or wave masses, leaving little empty ground.
- Let abstract, swelling ornament carry the design; when plants or animals appear (hop vine, Danish wild flowers, insects, sea life), stylise them into the same heavy mass, with swelling, blunt scrolls rather than Art Nouveau's thin whiplash.
- Frame the whole design in a border built from small ornament units that can be repeated and recombined.
- Print in black plus one or two flat colours, with one colour such as green clearly in charge.
- Make the mark sturdy enough to serve as a label, monogram or club badge for decades.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (defining)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (characteristic)
- [Classical text block](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/classical-text-block/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (defining)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (characteristic)
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (defining)
- [Ornamented display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornamented-display/) (characteristic)
- [Tight setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/tight-setting/) (characteristic)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (occasional)
- [Script](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/script/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (defining)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (characteristic)
- [Earth & mineral](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/earth-and-mineral/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (defining)
- [Biomorphic curves](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/biomorphic-curves/) (defining)
- [Rounded & pill](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rounded-and-pill/) (occasional)
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (occasional)
- [Painterly brushwork](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-brushwork/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Abundant decoration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/abundant-decoration/) (defining)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (defining)
- [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (characteristic)
- [Floral & vegetal](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/floral-and-vegetal/) (characteristic)

### Imagery
- [Pattern & repeat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pattern-and-repeat/) (characteristic)
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (characteristic)

### Medium & production
- [Letterpress](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/letterpress/) (characteristic)
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (characteristic)
- [Pen, brush & ink](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pen-brush-and-ink/) (characteristic)
- [Textile & craft](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/textile-and-craft/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Warm & approachable](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/warm-and-approachable/) (characteristic)
- [Authoritative & institutional](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/authoritative-and-institutional/) (occasional)
- [Nostalgic & retro](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/nostalgic-and-retro/) (occasional)

Avoids: Naturalistic depiction, Ornament-free, Generous white space, Pastel, Gradients, Grotesque & neo-grotesque, Straight photography

Palette: #efe7d3, #1b1a17, #2f6b3a, #a8322a, #d4a32c, #2c4f80

Typefaces: Thorvald Bindesbøll's hand-drawn label lettering, the 'roughly sketched letters' of the Carlsberg Pilsner label (1904), which Carlsberg has carried over in adapted form to other beers, The Carlsberg wordmark (Bindesbøll, 1904), hand-drawn and still in use, Bindesbøll's monograms, trademarks (bomærker), ex libris and letterheads (brevhoveder) for friends and firms, lettered by hand into their ornament (Den Store Danske), Small book stamps (bogstempler) that Bindesbøll drew to be combined freely into borders and patterns in other books (Den Store Danske)

Known for: Thorvald Bindesbøll, Carlsberg Pilsner label, 1904, still in use in adapted form; a printed example on a Carlsberg bottle is in the V&A (C.61B-1989); Thorvald Bindesbøll, the Carlsberg logo (1904) and the logos of Kjøbenhavns Boldklub and Dansk Boldspil-Union (dated 1900 by Den Store Danske); the DBU badge is still in use; Thorvald Bindesbøll, vignettes and decorative frames for Troldtøj (1889–1890), around drawings by Joakim Skovgaard and August Jerndorff; Thorvald Bindesbøll, cover for Thomas Laub's collection of hymn melodies (1896); Thorvald Bindesbøll, cover vignette drawings later used for Kunstmuseets Aarsskrift (from 1914), dated 1890–1899 by SMK (KKS1974-252); Thorvald Bindesbøll, sheet of ten studies for ornament, pen and black ink, 1895 (SMK, KKS1965-132); Thorvald Bindesbøll, friezes, vignettes and binding stamps for books for the Copenhagen bookbinders Petersen & Petersen, from the 1880s; Thorvald Bindesbøll, calfskin cover with flower and leaf motifs for Harald Weitemeyer, Le Danemark (1899)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Arts & Crafts Movement](https://stylogeny.com/styles/arts-and-crafts.md) (1860–1920)
- Influenced by: [Japonisme](https://stylogeny.com/styles/japonisme.md) (1860–1910)
- Influenced by: [Art Nouveau](https://stylogeny.com/styles/art-nouveau.md) (1890–1910)
- Influenced by: [Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics (Munthe & Karelianism)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/nordic-national-romanticism.md) (1880–1922)
- Alike in its design choices: [Vyaz (Ornamental Slavonic Lettering)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/vyaz-lettering.md) (c. 1230–present), 77% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Celtic Revival Illumination & Lettering](https://stylogeny.com/styles/celtic-revival.md) (1861–1951), 71% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Nieuwe Kunst (Dutch Art Nouveau)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/nieuwe-kunst.md) (1892–1914), 68% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Narbut School (Ukrainian Baroque Revival Graphics)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/narbut-ukrainian-graphics.md) (1917–1920), 65% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Madinah Mushaf (King Fahd Complex Qur'an Page)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/madinah-mushaf.md) (1985–present), 63% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Mithila (Madhubani) Painting](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mithila-painting.md) (c. 1350–present), 62% alike

## Sources

- Den Store Danske (lex.dk), 'Thorvald Bindesbøll' (Carlsberg label in adapted form; monograms, bomærker, ex libris, brevhoveder; bogstempler; Laub cover 1896; Le Danemark 1899): https://lex.dk/Thorvald_Bindesbøll
- Den Store Danske (lex.dk), 'skønvirke': https://lex.dk/skønvirke
- Victoria and Albert Museum, Beer bottle for Carlsberg Pilsner with paper label designed by Thorvald Bindesbøll, C.61B-1989: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O9529
- SMK, Statens Museum for Kunst, Thorvald Bindesbøll, Omslagsvignetter til Kunstmuseets Aarskrift, KKS1974-252: https://open.smk.dk/artwork/image/KKS1974-252
- SMK, Thorvald Bindesbøll, Blad med ti studier til forskellig ornamentik (1895), KKS1965-132: https://open.smk.dk/artwork/image/KKS1965-132
- Danish Wikipedia, 'Thorvald Bindesbøll' (Petersen & Petersen friezes and vignettes; 'skønvirketidens åndelige fader'): https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorvald_Bindesbøll
- Danish Wikipedia, 'Skønvirke' (blend with nationalromantik; wild flowers, insects, sea life; Rørdam, Danmarks Tilblivelse, 1898): https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skønvirke
- Den Store Danske (lex.dk), 'Anker Kyster' (Bindesbøll's spine and edges for the Troldtøj binding, 1889–90): https://lex.dk/Anker_Kyster

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Skønvirke (Danish Art Nouveau, Bindesbøll)”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/skonvirke/