Poster for the Bellevue Revue
Poster for the Bellevue Revue
Graphics
1936
Poster for the Bellevue Revue
Originally designed forBellevue Theatre
Poster for the Bellevue Revue
The poster for Bellevue Theatre’s opening show in 1936 illustrates Arne Jacobsen’s practice of creating comprehensive design concepts for his architectural commissions.
YEAR:
1936
WORK OF ARCHITECTURE:
Bellevue Theatre
DESIGN:
Arne Jacobsen
When the Bellevue Revue opened for the first time at the newly opened Bellevue Theatre in 1936, Arne Jacobsen had designed the poster. With the poster, Arne Jacobsen, who was also the architect behind the building, conveyed the atmosphere of life, light and open air he had created in the new summer theatre north of Copenhagen.
During the 1930s, Arne Jacobsen designed several buildings and facilities around Bellevue beach in addition to the theatre, including a bathing facility (1932) and the iconic petrol station at Skovshoved harbour (1937). In his design of the theatre, Arne Jacobsen aimed for a coherent connection between the building’s interior and the coastal landscape outside, and in the auditorium he pulled the nearby beach environment all the way in by means of a roof that can be retracted to let in the sea air. It is this function he chose to reproduce in the poster for the theatre’s opening show.
Arne Jacobsen's poster for the Bellevue Revue in 1936.
Photo: Pernille Klemp / Designmuseum Danmark.
The retractable roof over the theatre auditorium.
Photo: Bellevue Theatre.
Arne Jacobsen was a trained architect, but during his career he also created visionary furniture and product design, vibrant garden architecture and graphic designs such as textile patterns, type design and posters. The poster for Bellevue Theatre’s opening show in 1936 illustrates how Arne Jacobsen not only designed the building itself but created comprehensive design concepts for his architectural commissions. Like the theatre building, the poster is in blue and white colours that convey the venue’s function as a summer theatre and its location in one of Denmark’s most famous seaside destinations.
Sources: Arne Jacobsen Design Archives. / Stenum Poulsen, K., Skaarup Larsen, A., & Staunsager, S. (2020). Arne Jacobsen – Designing Denmark. Kolding: Trapholt. / Strømberg, U. (2013). Bellevue Teatret : arkitektur og teater i Arne Jacobsens bygningsværk. Nykøbing Sj.: Bogværket. / Thau, C., & Vindum, K. (1998). Arne Jacobsen. Copenhagen: Danish Architectural Press.
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