Jorn International
22 Jan - 22 May 2011
Asger Jorn
Døddrukne danskere, 1960
130 x 200 cm
Courtesy of Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Danmark. Photo Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
© Donation Jorn, Silkeborg/billedkunst.dk
Døddrukne danskere, 1960
130 x 200 cm
Courtesy of Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Danmark. Photo Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
© Donation Jorn, Silkeborg/billedkunst.dk
ARoS Classic
JORN INTERNATIONAL
January 22nd - May 22nd 2011
FEATURING WORKS FROM:
NEW YORK
SAN FRANCISCO
LONDON
BERLIN
PARIS
WIEN
AMSTERDAM
MÜNCHEN
TORINO
OSLO
For the first time ever, art audiences in Denmark have the opportunity to experience a range of the greatest, most interesting works that Asger Jorn created while living outside his native country from 1953 to 1972; the exhibits include seven masterpieces that have never before been on display together in Denmark.
The many masterpieces by Jorn are on loan from the Guggenheim, New York; the Tate, London; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; the Henie Onstad Kunstcenter, Oslo and others. The exhibition JORN INTERNATIONAL celebrates Jorn the man and Jorn the international artist.
Only few Danes are familiar with Jorn’s international masterpieces that won him fame in the wider world. For the last ten years ARoS has harboured a wish to get these works to Denmark, and now, with helpful support from many sides, the exhibition JORN INTERNATIONAL has finally become reality.
Goodbye to Denmark
When Jorn and his family set out for southern skies in the autumn of 1953, their exodus marked the beginning of his international career. In the years that followed, several European collectors and galleries became aware of Jorn’s artistic endeavours, prompting exhibitions of his work in the UK, Belgium, Italy, and France. Jorn got his international breakthrough with the masterpiece Lettre à mon fils (Letter to my Son) (1956-57), which is now housed at the Tate in London. The vast majority of the paintings Jorn created during his years abroad were exhibited and sold in various European countries outside of Denmark.
Jorn was possessed of an immense creative force and confidence. He is best described as a cosmopolitan individual with a tremendous amount of curiosity and desire to create something new and different within the arts. His restlessness brought him all around Europe, where he would come into contact with a near-countless number of people. To Jorn, travelling was never about the destination, but about the act of moving from place to place. He was always on the hunt for new inspiration, new partners for discussions and collaborations.
The breakthrough after COBRA
Slowly, but surely, the Nordic sense of melancholia so characteristic of early Jorn was replaced by a more open, universal visual language possessed of a much greater intensity of colour and freedom of composition. Jorn abandoned his dominant darkness and drawn style in favour of a more painterly and abstract treatment of the picture plane, gradually imbuing it with a lighter, more poetic timbre.
The exhibition JORN INTERNATIONAL focuses on the post-COBRA years when Jorn got his international breakthrough. Jorn’s later works grew more expressive and abstract in their visual idiom. He would experiment with art media other than painting, including torn collages (décollage) and sculptures crafted in ceramics, bronze, and marble; such works are also featured among the 90 works in the exhibition.
Jorn manipulates our senses
Jorn’s pictures are easy to identify with. They may well be abstract and belong to a different world, but nevertheless they always have some form, some colour, or some being that captures your attention and draws you in. The tremendous energy and extrovert qualities that characterised Jorn were transferred to his art, where they continue to evoke thoughts and emotions in those who view it. In his large-scale, dynamic works Jorn manipulates our senses. As spectators we are pushed and pulled between different moods and feelings. We are elated and depressed by turns. We are led into a seductive, imaginative universe that is both light and dark, without a centre or firm points of reference. The only limit here is the imagination.
When Jorn died in 1973 he was represented at 31 art museums in Europe and the USA. Today he is counted amongst the greatest painters ever to come out of Denmark.
JORN INTERNATIONAL
January 22nd - May 22nd 2011
FEATURING WORKS FROM:
NEW YORK
SAN FRANCISCO
LONDON
BERLIN
PARIS
WIEN
AMSTERDAM
MÜNCHEN
TORINO
OSLO
For the first time ever, art audiences in Denmark have the opportunity to experience a range of the greatest, most interesting works that Asger Jorn created while living outside his native country from 1953 to 1972; the exhibits include seven masterpieces that have never before been on display together in Denmark.
The many masterpieces by Jorn are on loan from the Guggenheim, New York; the Tate, London; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; the Henie Onstad Kunstcenter, Oslo and others. The exhibition JORN INTERNATIONAL celebrates Jorn the man and Jorn the international artist.
Only few Danes are familiar with Jorn’s international masterpieces that won him fame in the wider world. For the last ten years ARoS has harboured a wish to get these works to Denmark, and now, with helpful support from many sides, the exhibition JORN INTERNATIONAL has finally become reality.
Goodbye to Denmark
When Jorn and his family set out for southern skies in the autumn of 1953, their exodus marked the beginning of his international career. In the years that followed, several European collectors and galleries became aware of Jorn’s artistic endeavours, prompting exhibitions of his work in the UK, Belgium, Italy, and France. Jorn got his international breakthrough with the masterpiece Lettre à mon fils (Letter to my Son) (1956-57), which is now housed at the Tate in London. The vast majority of the paintings Jorn created during his years abroad were exhibited and sold in various European countries outside of Denmark.
Jorn was possessed of an immense creative force and confidence. He is best described as a cosmopolitan individual with a tremendous amount of curiosity and desire to create something new and different within the arts. His restlessness brought him all around Europe, where he would come into contact with a near-countless number of people. To Jorn, travelling was never about the destination, but about the act of moving from place to place. He was always on the hunt for new inspiration, new partners for discussions and collaborations.
The breakthrough after COBRA
Slowly, but surely, the Nordic sense of melancholia so characteristic of early Jorn was replaced by a more open, universal visual language possessed of a much greater intensity of colour and freedom of composition. Jorn abandoned his dominant darkness and drawn style in favour of a more painterly and abstract treatment of the picture plane, gradually imbuing it with a lighter, more poetic timbre.
The exhibition JORN INTERNATIONAL focuses on the post-COBRA years when Jorn got his international breakthrough. Jorn’s later works grew more expressive and abstract in their visual idiom. He would experiment with art media other than painting, including torn collages (décollage) and sculptures crafted in ceramics, bronze, and marble; such works are also featured among the 90 works in the exhibition.
Jorn manipulates our senses
Jorn’s pictures are easy to identify with. They may well be abstract and belong to a different world, but nevertheless they always have some form, some colour, or some being that captures your attention and draws you in. The tremendous energy and extrovert qualities that characterised Jorn were transferred to his art, where they continue to evoke thoughts and emotions in those who view it. In his large-scale, dynamic works Jorn manipulates our senses. As spectators we are pushed and pulled between different moods and feelings. We are elated and depressed by turns. We are led into a seductive, imaginative universe that is both light and dark, without a centre or firm points of reference. The only limit here is the imagination.
When Jorn died in 1973 he was represented at 31 art museums in Europe and the USA. Today he is counted amongst the greatest painters ever to come out of Denmark.