Last week I went to Copenhagen to receive a grant from Ole Haslunds ArtFund. That’s me with one of his descendants Peter Haslund – who came all the way from California to participate in the gathering.
Here’s a bit about Ole Haslund story – he was a promising artist in the beginning of 1900, and traveled to Paris to learn the art of furniture design & cabinet making. Which is where he got his interest for antiques. Upon his return in 1905 he opened his first antique shop – and grew the brand up till 1942 when he was the biggest antique dealer in Copenhagen.
His ArtFund was established in 1940 to support danish artists, among them craftsmen – that’s how I became a lucky recipient.
Ole Haslund died in 1962, and the fund is now run by a board. You can’t apply for it – so it was quite a surprise to me to receive a grant from them – and was this year given to 17 artists, actors, craftsmen & museum people.
(And there was quite a few well know danish folks on the list.)