This winter, visitors to the Museum of Danish America will be immersed in “The Whimsical World of Bjørn Wiinblad.” The exhibition, opening November 25 and running through May 30, celebrates the iconic Dane who threw midcentury Scandinavian minimalism out the window and was loved for it.

The exhibit has been adapted from the original, which was developed by the ARKEN Modern Art Museum in Ishøj, Denmark. Several large-scale pieces are on loan from Denmark alongside an assortment of works from private collectors across the US.

Wiinblad (1918-2006) is an artist who embraced it all – every medium and every color, from the handmade to the mass-produced. The exhibit samples his work with ceramics, theatrical costumes, posters, tapestry, and more. Most guests to the exhibit will recognize his characteristic smiling, round-faced people in vaguely 19th-century costume, such as those featured on his set of 12 Nymolle calendar plaques, among the most commonly seen collector’s items.

“Wiinblad believed that everyone should be able to have something beautiful in their home, and he happily collaborated with companies that offered affordable items to the public,” said the museum’s Albert Ravenholt Curator of Danish-American Culture, Tova Brandt, “He wrote that it was the quality, rather than the quantity, that defined good art – and he devoted as much effort to designing wrapping paper as his did to costumes for the Royal Ballet.”

Wiinblad’s career began in 1945, amidst the enduringly popular “Danish modern” design movement. Wiinblad injected fantasy and an almost cartoon-ish flair that created a perfect accent to all of the clean-lined furniture and modernist spaces of the time.

“Though Wiinblad’s style may look like a departure from the minimal, modernist aesthetic of the mid-20th century, his commitment to the democratization of art fits into the social values of the era,” commented Brandt.

Quite notably, the exhibit is accompanied by a 144-page publication created by ARKEN that is the most comprehensive volume of Wiinblad’s life and work ever published. (Copies are available through the MoDA Design Store for $22.) As part of its “Whimsical Winter” slate of activities to go along with the exhibit, the museum will be holding a special winter solstice celebration on the evening of December 21 with a cozy bonfire and activities to mark the shortest day and the longest night of the year.

From his most popular collectibles to unique examples of textile art, this retrospective exhibit engages both long-time and new fans of Wiinblad’s work. “The Whimsical World of Bjørn Wiinblad” is made possible by support from the Albert V. Ravenholt Fund, the Iowa Arts Council – a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, and The Danish Home of Croton-on-Hudson, NY.

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Exhibit webpage: http://www.danishmuseum.org/explore/exhibitions/whimsical-world-of-bjrn-wiinblad