Tufsen – the timeless play sculpture
“It’s based on a child’s desire to hide, slide and climb up high to feel that sense of danger.” This is how, at the end of the 1940’s, the Danish sculptor and architect Egon Möller-Nielsen explained the thinking that lay behind his play sculptures.
One result has been that Tufsen gives the residents of Lund of all ages, fond and playful memories. Tufsen was made in six copies in 1949. One was placed in Humlegården and was the first play sculpture in Sweden at that time. In 1952, it was moved to the city park, Stadsparken. Of the original six sculptures, only two remain, one in Lund and the other in Gothenburg. However, in the early 2000’s more copies were newly manufactured.
The sculptures are cast in one piece in stone ingot material – concrete mixed with crushed marble. They measure two meters in height and weigh almost two tons. The sculptor named the work Tufsen after the nickname he used for his young daughter
Egon Möller-Nielsen (1915 – 1959) settled in Sweden in 1939 and later became a Swedish citizen. He was a diligent and much sought-after exhibitor. During the last years of his life, he was head of the sculpture department at Konstfack (School of Arts).
Text: Solveig Ståhl, photo: Kristoffer Lindblad