Asger Jorn Catalogue raisonné Series
|
|
| Asger Jorn Catalogue raisonné Series | |
| Authors | Guy Atkins & Troels Andersen |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd./Borgens Forlag |
| Publishing date | 1968-2006 |
Asger Jorn Catalogue raisonné Series is a five-volume catalogue raisonné series on the Danish painter Asger Jorn by Guy Atkins and Troels Andersen. Spanning forty-five years of research from 1961 to 2006, this monumental scholarly project documents over 2,000 oil paintings from Jorn’s entire career, representing one of the most comprehensive catalogue raisonnés ever compiled for a modern European artist.
Origins of the Project
The catalogue raisonné began with an improbable conversation over an indulgent lunch. Guy Atkins recounted the moment in a 1983 essay for Art Monthly:
By 1961, I had got to know Jorn quite well. One day we were having lunch at the Coupole in Paris: a heavy meal of cassoulet d’oie toulousaine, washed down with two or three bottles of Burgundy. I asked him what had happened to all his early pictures from the 1930s and 1940s. ‘No idea’, he said, ‘I was very poor. Some pictures I exchanged so that I could eat, and one, I remember, I sold for a pound of coffee.’ I asked him, ‘Why don’t you get these pictures catalogued?’ ‘Who’s going to do a thing like that?’, he asked. By this time we were drinking brandy. ‘I’ll do it’, I said on the spur of the moment. Jorn looked at me in amazement. ‘Are you serious?’ ‘Sure’, I said. ‘Give me a piece of paper to make it authentic and I’ll start this summer.’ I tore a piece of paper from my address book, and he wrote a statement and signed it.
- Guy Atkins, Art Monthly, 1983
Atkins had first met Jorn in 1956 when the artist visited London. The friendship deepened over the following years, and what began as a wine-soaked promise became a life’s work. Atkins collaborated closely with Danish art historian Troels Andersen, who would later become director of Silkeborg Museum (1973-2004) and the ultimate authority on authenticating Jorn’s works.
The detective work of tracking down unsigned and undated paintings scattered across Europe proved far more challenging than either man anticipated. Many works had been exchanged for meals during Jorn’s years of poverty, sold for nominal sums, or simply given away. As Jorn wrote in his preface to the first volume: “The idea of undertaking the huge task of searching for these early and missing pictures came from Guy Atkins, who carried the job through on his own initiative from start to finish.”
Tragically, Jorn died in 1973, having only seen the first volume in print. The subsequent volumes appeared posthumously, making the catalogue raisonné both a scholarly achievement and a memorial to the artist.
The Five Volumes
Volume I: Jorn in Scandinavia 1930-1953 (1968)
The inaugural volume documents 855 paintings from Jorn’s formative years in Denmark, covering two decades from his earliest student works through his involvement with the CoBrA movement and his Tunisian period. The book is divided into two parts: the first provides extensive analysis of Jorn’s themes, styles, and historical context, while the second contains the illustrated catalogue with specially commissioned photographs. Jorn was able to review and authenticate all photographs before publication, making this the only volume directly overseen by the artist himself.
Atkins organized the material thematically rather than strictly chronologically, tracing developments like the “small things” series, the Didaska paintings, the Tunisian works, and the collaborative “word pictures” with Christian Dotremont. The volume also includes crucial documentation of Jorn’s murals and his connections to the broader Danish art movement.
Volume II: Asger Jorn: The Crucial Years 1954-1964 (1977)
Published nine years after the first volume and four years after Jorn’s death, this second installment catalogs 751 paintings from Jorn’s international breakthrough period. These years saw Jorn emerge as a major figure in European art, culminating in his participation in Expo 58 in Brussels and the creation of his monumental ceramic mural in Aarhus (10 x 88 feet).
The volume provides extensive coverage of Jorn’s provocative “Modifications” series—sentimental canvases purchased in flea markets and overpainted with grotesque or abstract imagery. As Atkins notes, these works “have a startling and surrealist clarity of vision” with their “double layers of imagery, which may either be brought into harmony or allowed to coexist in a state of tension.” A dedicated chapter addresses the growing problem of forgeries that emerged after Jorn’s death, while the bibliography of 513 entries established new standards for scholarly documentation.
Atkins credited Troels Andersen with persuading him to complete the volume after Jorn’s death: “That it nevertheless came to be written is due largely to the persuasion of my Danish colleague Troels Andersen who felt, as did others, that the book would provide a tribute to Jorn’s memory.”
Volume III: Asger Jorn: The Final Years 1965-1973 (1980)
Completing the main trilogy, this volume covers the final phase of Jorn’s career, documenting his dramatic return to concentrated painting in 1970 and his unexpected turn to sculpture in bronze and marble in 1972. The paintings from 1970, created in Jorn’s spacious new studio in Colombes near Paris, are described as “comparable in quality with those of the mid- to late 1950s.”
The volume also includes chapters by specialist contributors: Ursula Lehmann-Brockhaus on Jorn’s sculpture, Frank Whitford on acrylics and collages, Erik Nyholm on ceramics, and Pierre Wemaëre on tapestries. This comprehensive approach captures “a large part of Jorn’s œuvre (in its astonishing variety),” establishing the series as more than just a catalogue of oil paintings but a documentation of Jorn’s entire creative practice.
Volume IV: Asger Jorn: Supplement - Paintings 1930-1973 (1986)
Published six years after The Final Years, this supplement documents one hundred paintings discovered since the completion of the main trilogy. The volume integrates all entries from the appendixes of the three previous volumes with newly discovered works, creating a single chronological sequence (using the prefix “S” for easy reference).
The first section features essays and tributes from artists and scholars who knew Jorn personally, including Pierre Alechinsky, Jean Dubuffet, Wilfredo Lam, Matta, and Karl Schawelka. Alechinsky’s contribution, originally delivered at the inauguration of the new Silkeborg Museum building in 1982, captures Jorn’s spirit: “‘It’s in the bag!’, Jorn used to say in moments of triumph, grabbing hold of an imaginary bag and tying a firm knot in it.”
Volume V: Asger Jorn: Revised Supplement (2006)
The final volume, appearing twenty years after the first supplement, documents 123 additional paintings identified through the cooperation of European and American institutions and private collectors. Given the growing problem of forgeries and false attributions, the authors took particular care with authentication, conducting technical investigations when necessary.
The volume includes historical documents such as an interview with Pola Gauguin and Öyvind Fahlström’s reflections on Jorn, as well as Jacques Michel’s 1971 interview for Le Monde in which Jorn reflected: “Even today, basically, I know nothing. At any rate, anything that I can explain. Before the picture, I only know what I must do. How I must do it. The ‘why’ lies outside the domain of the intelligible.”
In his preface, Troels Andersen definitively concluded: “We have therefore now decided to publish the revised supplement, and to consider the registration of Asger Jorn’s oil paintings—spanning a period of 45 years of research—concluded. From now on Silkeborg Museum of Art will only confirm whether or not a particular work is registered.”
Scholarly Achievement
The Asger Jorn Catalogue Raisonné stands as one of the most thorough documentation projects in twentieth-century art history. Beyond the sheer scope of cataloging over 2,000 works, the series provides essential context for understanding the CoBrA movement, Danish modernism, and European avant-garde art of the mid-century. The volumes are distinguished by:
- Collaborative scholarship: The partnership between Atkins (a British art historian) and Andersen (Danish curator and Malevich scholar) brought together international perspectives and deep local knowledge.
- Direct artist involvement: Jorn’s authentication of the first volume’s photographs and his active participation in the early research gave the project unique authority.
- Comprehensive documentation: Extensive bibliographies, provenance research, exhibition histories, and analysis of forgeries established new standards for catalogue raisonnés.
- Multimedia scope: Later volumes expanded beyond oil paintings to document ceramics, graphics, tapestries, sculpture, acrylics, and collages.
- Institutional foundation: Silkeborg Museum of Art, repository of Jorn’s donation of 5,560 works, serves as the permanent research center and authentication authority.
The catalogue raisonné has proven essential not only for Jorn scholarship but also for understanding the broader context of post-war European art, making visible the connections between abstract expressionism, CoBrA, Situationism, and Nordic folk art traditions that informed Jorn’s multifaceted practice.
Articles in this collection
5 articles in this collection.
Asger Jorn - Revised Supplement
Asger Jorn - Revised Supplement is the fifth and final book in a five-volume catalogue raisonné series on the Danish painter Asger Jorn by Guy Atkins and Troels Andersen.
Asger Jorn - Supplement - Paintings 1930-1973
Asger Jorn - Supplement - Paintings 1930-1973 is the fourth book in a five-volume catalogue raisonné series on the Danish painter Asger Jorn by Guy Atkins and Troels Andersen.
Asger Jorn - The Crucial Years 1954-1964
Asger Jorn - The Crucial Years 1954-1964 is the second book in a five-volume catalogue raisonné series on the Danish painter Asger Jorn by Guy Atkins and Troels Andersen.
Asger Jorn - The Final Years 1965-1973
Asger Jorn - The Final Years 1965-1973 is the third book in a five-volume catalogue raisonné series on the Danish painter Asger Jorn by Guy Atkins and Troels Andersen.
Jorn in Scandinavia 1930-1953
Jorn in Scandinavia 1930-1953 is the first book in a five-volume catalogue raisonné series on the Danish painter Asger Jorn by Guy Atkins and Troels Andersen.