Axel Salto (1889-1961) is counted among the masters of Danish design, although his tenets for creative work often went against the functionalist aesthetics of his contemporaries and successors. Salto's decorative ceramics were couched in sculptural, rather than functional, forms. His outcome was highly respected, and his pieces were bought during the height of his career for the collection at the Copenhagen Industrial Arts Museum. Formally trained at the Copenhagen Academy of Art, his style evolved from heavy, somber woodcuts, to painting and ceramics. He painted his entire life, illustrated several books of children's stories and poetry, designed textiles for L.F. Foght and was one of the founders of the journal Klingen, in 1917. It was his sensual and unprecedentedapproach to ceramics, though, that brought his career into the international spotlight. from www.r20thcentury.com