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Erik Gunnar Asplund
Born in Stockholm, Erik Gunnar Asplund occupies a central position in the development of Scandinavian architecture and design of the twentieth century.
He is considered the archetype of the generation that gave rise to the maturing process of the above estates, subsequently developed by such figures as Alvar Aalto, Erik Bryggman, Arne Jacobsen, Jørn Utzon.
After graduating as an architect in 1909, many trips to Europe and the United States punctuated his apprenticeship.
His works from the years 1911 to 1930, influenced by a strong romantic tradition, express a neoclassical language, founded on vernacular cultural bases.
However, it was in 1930, the year of the Stockholm Exhibition, that Asplund managed to go beyond the rigid and stereometric language of the early years of rationalism very clearly by anticipating in a very personal way the trends of the Modern Movement.
His most remarkable works of architecture are: the Chapelle du Bois (1918-20); the Skandia Cinema, Stockholm (1922-23); the Municipal Library, Stockholm (1921-28); the expansion of the Town Hall, Gothenburg (1916-37); the Brendenberg stores, Stockholm (1933-35); the Bacteriological Laboratory (1932-37); his country house in Stennäs (1937); the Crematorium and the southern part of the Stockholm Cemetery: the pinnacle of all his experience.
In terms of decoration and design his most notable works are: the study of popular housing for the exhibition of the Swedish Society of "Arts and Crafts" (1917); interior design for the "Art and Industry" association, Stockholm (1920); the decoration and furniture of the City Hall, Stockholm (1921); some furniture dating back to 1931, such as the famous judge's chair and the furnishings of the Lister Sölvesborg courthouse; the decoration of the Swedish pavilion at the Paris Exposition (1925); decoration and objects created for the Stockholm Municipal Library (1920-28); the Council Room at the Headquarters of the Arts and Crafts Association (1931); decoration for the Palace of Justice and for the Town Hall, Gothenburg (1916-37).