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Poul Henningsen


Poul Henningsen (9 September 1894 – 31 January 1967) was a Danish author, architect and critic, and one of the leading figures of the cultural life of Denmark between the World Wars. In Denmark, he is often referred to as PH.

Poul Henningsen was the illegitimate son of author Agnes Henningsen and satirist Carl Ewald. He spent a happy childhood in a tolerant and modern home in Ordrup which was often visited by the leading literates. Between 1911 and 1917 he was educated as an architect, but he never graduated and tried himself as an inventor and painter.

His most valuable contribution to design was in the field of lighting. He designed the PH-lamp in 1925, which, like his later designs, used carefully analyzed reflecting and baffling of the light rays from the bulb to achieve glare-free and uniform illumination. His light fixtures were manufactured by Louis Poulsen. His best-known models are the PH Artichoke and PH5. The lamps created the economic foundation of his later work. Other notable designs include the PH Grand Piano which is included in several notable 20th-century design collections, including that of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. He also designed Glassalen for Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.

During the 1920s Poul Henningsen had his literary breakthrough. He edited the polemic left wing periodical Kritisk Revy (1926–1928, "Critical Review") in which he and his colleagues scorned old-fashioned style and cultural conservatism, linking these themes to politics. At the same time he began as a revue writer praising natural behaviour, sexual broad-mindedness and simple living. He was the man who made the Danish revues a political weapon of the left wing without giving up its character of entertainment (the so-called PH-revues 1929–32). 1933 he edited his most famous work Hvad med Kulturen? ("What About Culture?") a polemic, audacious and urgent criticism of Danish cultural life and its snobism and passion of the past in spite of all the efforts of the Modern Break-Through. He tried to make parallels between prudery, moralizing and fascist leanings and he also accused the Social Democrats of lacking a firm and consequent cultural line. This book together with his activities as a whole made him a reputation as a semi-communist "fellow traveller". In this period he in fact stood near the communists without joining them. He took part in the anti-fascist propaganda, always trying to connect culture and politics.


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