Robert Jacobsen “Friendship”

Storage and installation

We received the parts and stored them in our warehouse for 3 years, after which Bruun Rasmussen asked us to arrange the installation of the sculpture at Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen, as the sculpture was to be sold at auction.

After thorough planning and contact with the Municipality of Copenhagen regarding the area’s carrying capacity, we were able to cast a temporary foundation on which “Friendship” could be set up.
Before then, all the parts were newly painted by hand with specially made black ship paint. The color was specially chosen (black with a brown glow) to match the rest of Robert Jacobsen’s sculpture.

The setup was completed over 2 working days. Our director Johnny Hansen had previously been to the King’s Garden, where there is a smaller version of “Friendship”, to study how the sculpture should be assembled.
The collection was subsequently approved by Lun Tuchnowski, who was Robert Jacobsen’s former student.

Dismantling “Friendship”

After the sale in the autumn of 1996, we were responsible for dismantling and disassembling “Venskab”, and the sculpture was then taken back to storage, where we kept it until the summer of 1999.

When the sculpture was sold to the German tool group Würth, we were also responsible for the transport to their headquarters in Strasbourg.

18 tons of Friendship

“Friendship” is an 11 m high and 18 ton heavy black-painted iron sculpture by the Danish artist and sculptor Robert Jacobsen (1912-1993).

The sculpture is inspired by the Chinese written language, especially the sign for the word “friendship”, after Robert Jacobsen visited China in 1985.

In 1986, the sculpture was erected in front of a Danish/Chinese bicycle factory in the city of Tianjin near Beijing, at the behest of the so-called Jyde brothers from Herning (Jeppe, Søren and Morten V. Pedersen) as a symbol of cooperation and friendship between two nations and cultures.

The factory later passed into Chinese hands, which is why the right to have Robert Jacobsen’s sculpture set up disappeared. The Jutland bank Midtbank took over the sculpture, and it was then decided to bring it home to Denmark, where it was to be sold at auction at Bruun Rasmussen Kunstauktioner.

“Venskab” was erected on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen from the summer of 1996 to 14 October 1996, between the memorial anchor in Nyhavn and the beginning of Gothersgade, next to the European Environment Agency and the French Embassy.
Lun Tuchnowski, who was a former student of Robert Jacobsen, was representing Robert Jacobsen’s family. He had to guarantee the artistic quality in connection with the set-up.

Unfortunately, the sale of the sculpture did not go as expected, and it ended up with Midtbank itself buying it. However, they were subsequently contacted by the German tool group Adolf Würth, who had heard about the sculpture. They wanted the sculpture placed in front of their headquarters in Strasbourg.

Om Robert Jacobsen

Skulptør

Robert Julius Tommy Jacobsen (4 June 1912 – 26 January 1993) was a Danish sculptor and painter.

The Danish Robert Award is named in his honor.

Wikipedia

Robert Jacobsen

Foto: Lars Pryds