Asger Jorn
Asger Oluf Jorn (3 March 1914 – 1 May 1973) was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International. He was born in Vejrum, in the northwest corner of Jutland, Denmark.
By the age of 16 he was influenced by N. F. S. Grundtvig, and although he had already started to paint, Asger enrolled in the Vinthers Seminarium, a teacher-training college in Silkeborg where he paid particular attention to a course in 19th century Scandinavian thought.
In 1936 he traveled to Paris to become a student of Kandinsky. However, when he discovered that Kandinsky was having economic difficulties, barely able to sell his own paintings, Jorn decided to join Fernand Léger’s Académie Contemporaine; it was during this period that he turned away from figurative painting and to abstract art. In 1937 he joined Le Corbusier in working on the Pavillon des Temps Nouveaux at the 1937 Paris Exhibition.
The occupation of Denmark by Nazi Germany was a time of deep crisis for Jorn, who had been deeply inculcated with pacifism. During the war he co-founded with the architect Robert Dahlmann Olsen the underground art group, Helhesten or “hell-horse,” and was a contributor to its journal. In 1939, he wrote the key theoretical essay, “Intimate Banalities,” published in Helhesten, which claimed that the future of art was kitsch and praised amateur landscape paintings as “the best art today.”
In 1954 he met Guy Debord, who was to become a close friend. The two men collaborated on two artist’s books, Fin de Copenhague (1957) and Mémoires (1959), along with prints, and forewords to each other’s work.
He went on to found the Scandinavian Institute of Comparative Vandalism in Silkeborg and contributed material to the Situationist Times.
After 1966, Jorn continued to produce oil paintings while traveling throughout Europe collecting images with photographer Gerard Franceschi for his vast archive of “10,000 Years of Nordic Folk Art”.
During the course of his artistic career he produced over 2,500 paintings, prints, drawings, ceramics, sculptures, artist’s books, collages, décollages, and collaborative tapestries.
He died in Aarhus, Denmark on 1 May 1973. He is buried in the cemetery at Grötlingbo Church, on the island of Gotland in Sweden.
-Wikipedia, “Asger Jorn”
Articles featuring Asger Jorn:
Helhesten (Year 1, Booklet 1)
is the first issue of the Danish art journal Helhesten, edited by Danish architect Robert Dahlmann Olsen.
Part of: Helhesten
Helhesten (Year 1, Booklet 2)
is the second issue of the Danish art journal Helhesten, edited by Danish architect Robert Dahlmann Olsen.
Part of: Helhesten
Helhesten (Year 1, Booklet 3)
is the third issue of the Danish art journal Helhesten, edited by Danish architect Robert Dahlmann Olsen.
Part of: Helhesten
Helhesten (Year 1, Booklet 4)
is the fourth issue of the Danish art journal Helhesten, edited by Danish architect Robert Dahlmann Olsen.
Part of: Helhesten
Helhesten (Year 1, Booklets 5 & 6)
is the fifth issue of the Danish art journal Helhesten, edited by Danish architect Robert Dahlmann Olsen.
Part of: Helhesten
Helhesten (Year 2, Booklet 1)
is the sixth issue of the Danish art journal Helhesten, edited by Danish architect Robert Dahlmann Olsen.
Part of: Helhesten
Helhesten (Year 2, Booklets 2 & 3)
is the seventh issue of the Danish art journal Helhesten, edited by Danish architect Robert Dahlmann Olsen.
Part of: Helhesten
Helhesten (Year 2, Booklet 4)
is the penultimate issue of the Danish art journal Helhesten, edited by Danish architect Robert Dahlmann Olsen.
Part of: Helhesten
Helhesten (Year 2, Booklets 5 & 6)
is the final issue of the Danish art journal Helhesten, edited by Danish architect Robert Dahlmann Olsen.
Part of: Helhesten
Asger Jorn à Silkeborg
Le musée d'un peintre (Asger Jorn in Silkeborg, a painter's museum) is a partial catalogue of works held by the Silkeborg Museum of Art with a focus on the art of Danish painter Asger Jorn and the relationship that the museum's other works have with Jorn's art.
La langue verte et la cuite (Contents)
is the complete text of La langue verte et la cuite, a book on structuralist theory and cooking by Asger Jorn and Noël Arnaud, edited and published by Jean Jacques Pauvert in 1968.
La langue verte et la cuite
is a book written in French by Asger Jorn and Noël Arnaud, and edited and published by Jean Jacques Pauvert in 1968.
Subjects: Structuralism, Art Theory
Signes gravés sur les églises de l'Eure et du Calvados
(Signs Engraved on the Churches of Eure and Calvados) is a book written in French and directed by Asger Jorn, with essay contributions from various antiquities experts and photography by Gérard Franceschi.
Skånes stenskulptur under 1100-talet
(Skåne's Stone Sculpture During the 12th Century) is a book written in Swedish by Erik Cinthio, with photography by Gérard Franceschi and arrangement by Asger Jorn. The book is a photographic documentation of stone sculpture from the 12th century with a focus on the Skåne region of southern Sweden.
21 Lystegninger
(21 Light Drawings) is the title of an exhibition catalogue released by the Aarhus Art Association of 1847 in conjunction with an exhibition of Asger Jorn's light drawings at the Aarhus Festuge 1971.
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.
Part of: Asger Jorn Catalogue raisonné Series
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.
Part of: Asger Jorn Catalogue raisonné Series
Asger Jorn - Revised Supplement
is the final book in a five-volume catalogue raisonné series on the Danish painter Asger Jorn by Guy Atkins and Troels Andersen.
Part of: Asger Jorn Catalogue raisonné Series
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.
Part of: Asger Jorn Catalogue raisonné Series
Asger Jorn - Supplement - Paintings 1930-1973
is the penultimate book in a five-volume catalogue raisonné series on the Danish painter Asger Jorn by Guy Atkins and Troels Andersen.
Part of: Asger Jorn Catalogue raisonné Series
Mémoires
is an artist's book made by the Danish artist Asger Jorn in collaboration with the French artist and theorist Guy Debord.
La chevelure des choses
(The hair of things) is an exhibition catalogue by Belgian poet Christian Dotremont and Asger Jorn.