Axel Salto

Axel Johannes Salto (1889-1961) was a Danish painter, graphic designer, illustrator, and ceramic artist, who was primarily known for his sensuous and earthy stoneware. Salto distinguished himself from his peers by creating very unorthodox works whose hallmark designs rejected functionalism and foreshadowed later sculptural developments in North American and European ceramics of the mid-century.

Salto, a Copenhagen native born in 1889, attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1909 to 1914. Salto’s early work quietly echoed some imagery from classical languages and Greek mythology, as well as the aesthetic elements of Art Deco, and was influenced by his college studies. He tended to reject functionalist aesthetics in favor of more sculptural and floral forms in his work. Over the course of his career, his style changed from dark and ominous woodcuts to beautifully turned stoneware works that encapsulated the fleeting aspect of life and the fertile shapes of nature. Salto accomplished this by using ornamentation and relief patterns on his works as a tool for various glazing processes.

When Salto traveled to Paris in 1916, he met Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. The encounter significantly influenced Salto’s aspirations for his painting because he is an enthusiastic painter himself. After his return to Denmark, Salto founded The Blade, an influential but short-lived art publication. Salto’s goal as editor and contributor was to start a discussion about Modernist thought and art in Northern Europe. Otto Gelsted (1888-1968), Poul Henningsen (1894-1967), and Harald Giersing (1881-1927) contributed to the 1917–19 1919 publication, which also featured original artwork by Vilhelm Lundstrm (1893–1955), Olaf Rude (1886–1957), and William Scharff (1886-1959).

Salto established a community of experimental artists who cohabitated and collaborated in Paris in 1921. Throughout the 1920s, the trio—Svend Johansen (1890–1970), Vilhelm Lundstrm, and Karl Larsen—regularly displayed their artwork in Paris. Salto collaborated with Danish porcelain maker Bing & Grondahl in Copenhagen from 1923 to 1929. For pieces displayed at the 1925 Paris World Fair, Salto was awarded a silver medal. Salto joined the Royal Copenhagen porcelain factory in the 1930s and experimented with the creation of glazes and vivid colors like turquoise.

In contrast to his contemporaries, who drew inspiration from Chinese and Japanese ceramic traditions, Salto’s most famous works blend unrestrained designs with unusual glazes and hues. Each of his works communicates movement and growth through the tactile forms that resemble gourds, seed pods, buds, and mature fruits. These three categories—budding, sprouting, and fluted—are frequently used to categorize his work.

Salto received many awards and accolades including the Paris World Exhibition Grand Prix in 1937, the Eckersberg Medal in 1938, the Milan Triennial Grand Prix in 1951, and the Prince Eugen Medal in 1959. Despite the fact that Salto is best known for his ceramic creations, he was a prolific painter throughout his life, creating illustrations for children’s books and poetry as well as textile designs for the Danish company L.F. Foght.

Salto passed away in 1961 in Frederiksberg.