Asger Jorn (1963) by Erling Mandelmann.jpg
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Asger Oluf Jorn (3 March 1914 – 1 May 1973) was a Danish painter, sculptor,
ceramic artist Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whi ...
, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the
Situationist International The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...
. He was born in Vejrum, in the northwest corner of Jutland, Denmark, and baptized Asger Oluf Jørgensen. The largest collection of Jorn's works—including his major work ''
Stalingrad Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...
''—can be seen in the Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark. Jorn willed his property and the works of art located inside to the Municipality of Albissola Marina (Savona), so the Italian museum called "Casa Museo Jorn" was created for displaying his works.


Early life

He was the second oldest of six children, an elder brother to Jørgen Nash. Both of his parents were teachers. His father, Lars Peter Jørgensen, a fundamentalist Christian, died from pneumonia (contracted after a car crash) when Asger was 12 years old. His mother, Maren, ''née'' Nielsen, was more liberal but nevertheless a deeply committed Christian. This early heavy Christian influence had a negative effect on Asger who began progressively to inwardly rebel against it, and more generally against other forms of authority. In 1929, aged 15, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, although he made a recovery from it after spending three months on the west coast of Jutland. 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. Also at about this time Jorn became the subject of a number of oil paintings by the painter Martin Kaalund-Jørgensen, which encouraged Jorn to try his hand in this medium.


Early career

When he graduated from college in 1935, the principal wrote a reference for him which said that he had attained "an extraordinary rich personal development and maturity" – especially because of his wide reading in areas outside the topics required for his studies. While at college he joined the small Silkeborg branch of the Communist Party of Denmark and came under the direct influence of the
syndicalist Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of pr ...
Christian Christensen, with whom he became close friends and who, Jorn was later to write, was to become a second father to him. In 1936 he traveled (on a BSA motorbike he had scraped together enough money to buy) 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 Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...
's ''
Académie Contemporaine An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...
''; it was during this period that he turned away from figurative painting and to abstract art. In 1937 he joined
Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
in working on the
Pavillon des Temps Nouveaux Pavillon may refer to: * Le Pavillon Hotel, New Orleans * Le Pavillon (New York City restaurant), a former New York City restaurant * Pavillon de Flore, a section of the Palais du Louvre in Paris, France * Pavillon de Paris, a large concert space ...
at the
1937 Paris Exhibition The ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne'' (International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life) was held from 25 May to 25 November 1937 in Paris, France. Both the Palais de Chaillot, housing the Mus ...
. He returned again to Denmark in the summer of 1937. He again traveled to Paris in the summer of 1938, before returning to Denmark, traveling to Løkken, Silkeborg and Copenhagen. Asger Jorn was a good friend of the Danish art dealer Børge Birch, owner of Galerie Birch, who sold his art as early as the 1930s. Later on Jorn held many group exhibitions and solo exhibitions in different galleries. From 1937 to 1942, he studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen.


World War II

The occupation of Denmark by Nazi Germany was a time of deep crisis for Jorn, who had been deeply inculcated with pacifism. The occupation initially sank him into deep depression. He subsequently became active in the communist resistance movement. During the war he also co-founded with the architect Robert Dahlmann Olsen the underground art group, Helhesten or "hell-horse," and was a contributor to its journal with the same name, ''
Helhesten ''Helhesten'' ( Danish: ''The Hell-Horse'') was an arts and literary magazine which was published between 1941 and 1944 in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was one of the leading publications during World War II in the region. History and profile ''Helhe ...
''. 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." He was also the first person to translate Franz Kafka into Danish.


Post-war

After the war, he complained that opportunities for critical thinking within the context of the communist arena had been curtailed by what he characterised as a centralised bourgeois political control. Finding this unacceptable, he broke with the Communist Party of Denmark, although he did not hand in his membership until the mid-1960s and remained committed philosophically to a revision of the Marxist analysis of capitalism from the point of view of the artist. He traveled again to France where in the autumn of 1948 he, together with Christian Dotremont and Constant, founded COBRA (a European avant-garde art movement), and edited monographs of the Bibliothèque Cobra. However by 1949 Jorn had started a relationship with Matie van Domselaer, the daughter of the composer
Jakob van Domselaer Jakob van Domselaer (15 April 1890 in Nijkerk, Gelderland – 5 January 1960) was a Dutch composer. Domselaer was born at Nijkerk, Netherlands. In 1912, he traveled to Paris where he met the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872–1944), eventually ...
and music teacher Maike Middelkoop. She had been married to Constant since 1942 and they had not separated yet. Constant did not take to this kindly, which played a role in the later falling apart of the Cobra Movement. This caused tension in the COBRA group with the Dutch artists boycotting a conference held at Bregnerød later that year. Matie and Jorn were married in 1950 and they had a son Ole and daughter Bodil. The COBRA group dissolved in 1951 He returned, impoverished and seriously ill with tuberculosis, to Silkeborg in 1951 and resumed work in the ceramics field in 1953. The following year he traveled to Albissola Marina in Italy where he became involved with an offshoot of COBRA, the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus.


Situationist International

In 1954 he met
Guy Debord Guy-Ernest Debord (; ; 28 December 1931 – 30 November 1994) was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, critic of work, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situationis ...
, who was to become a close friend. The two men collaborated on two artist's books, '' Fin de Copenhague'' (1957) and ''
Mémoires ''Mémoires'' (''Memories'') is an artist's book made by the French social critic Guy Debord in collaboration with the Danish artist Asger Jorn. Its last page mentions that it was printed in 1959, however, it was printed in December 1958. This ...
'' (1959), along with prints, and forewords to each other's work. He participated in the conference that led to the merger of the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus, the
Lettriste Internationale The Letterist International (LI) was a Paris-based collective of radical artists and cultural theorists between 1952 and 1957. It was created by Guy Debord and Gil J. Wolman rejoined by Jean-Louis Brau and Serge Berna as a schism from Isido ...
, and London Psychogeographical Association to form the
Situationist International The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...
in 1957. Here he applied his scientific and mathematical knowledge drawn from
Henri Poincaré Jules Henri Poincaré ( S: stress final syllable ; 29 April 1854 – 17 July 1912) was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and philosopher of science. He is often described as a polymath, and in mathematics as "The ...
and Niels Bohr to develop his situlogical technique. Jorn never believed in a conception of the Situationist ideas as exclusively artistic and separated from political involvement. He was at the root and at the core of the Situationist International project, fully sharing the revolutionary intentions with Debord. The Situationist general principles were an attack on the capitalist exploitation and degradation of the life of people, and solution of alternative life experiences, construction of situations, unitary urbanism, psychogeography, with the union of play, freedom and critical thinking. Such general principles were applied by Jorn to painting. In 1961 he amicably quit his activity in the SI, still fully supporting its contents and goals, and continuing to support it financially, but believing that the new strategy of the SI was ineffective. He went on to found the
Scandinavian Institute of Comparative Vandalism The Scandinavian Institute of Comparative Vandalism ( da, Skandinavisk institut for sammenlignende vandalisme) is a non-profit organization, non-profit cultural institute based in Denmark. It was founded in 1961 by the Denmark, Danish artist Asge ...
in Silkeborg and contributed material to the '' Situationist Times''. Later, he donated a museum for modern art to the Danish town of Silkeborg, near where he grew up. He was to remain close to Debord, however, and continued to fund Situationist publications. His philosophical system Triolectics was given a practical manifestation through the development of
three sided football Three-sided football (often referred to as 3SF) is a variation of association football played with three teams instead of the usual two. Played on a hexagonal pitch, the game can be adapted to soccer, as well as other versions of football. Unl ...
.


Later years

His first American solo exhibition was at the Lefebre Gallery in 1962. After 1966, Jorn continued to produce oil paintings while traveling throughout Europe collecting images with photographer
Gerard Franceschi Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...
for his vast archive of "10,000 Years of Nordic Folk Art". He traveled extensively, to Cuba, England, and the far east. Jorn traveled to the United States for the only time in 1970, for a gallery opening at Lefebre Gallery. He had earlier asserted that he refused to travel to a country that made visitors sign a statement maintaining that they were not communists. In 1964, he was awarded a Guggenheim Award including a generous cash prize, by an international jury assembled by Lawrence Alloway. The following day Jorn sent this telegram to the president of the Guggenheim,
Harry F. Guggenheim Harry Frank Guggenheim (August 23, 1890 – January 22, 1971) was an American businessman, diplomat, publisher, philanthropist, aviator, and horseman. Early life He was born August 23, 1890, in West End, New Jersey. He was the second son of Flo ...
:
GO TO HELL WITH YOUR MONEY BASTARD—STOP—REFUSE PRICE ic—STOP—NEVER ASKED FOR IT—STOP—AGAINST ALL DECENSY icMIX ARTIST AGAINST HIS WILL IN YOUR PUBLICITY—STOP—I WANT PUBLIC CONFIRMATION NOT TO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN YOUR RIDICULOUS GAME JORN
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 Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...
, Denmark on 1 May 1973. He is buried in the cemetery at
Grötlingbo Church Grötlingbo Church ( sv, Grötlingbo kyrka) is a medieval church in Grötlingbo on the Swedish island Gotland. The stately Gothic church contains elements of a Romanesque frieze, incorporated from an earlier church building on the same site. Gör ...
, on the island of Gotland in Sweden.


Writing


Luck and Chance: Dagger and Guitar (1952)

The first edition of ''Luck and Chance'' was Jorn's first published book, issued privately to subscribers in 1952. It was written at the Silkeborg Sanatorium during his convalescence from a serious attack of tuberculosis aggravated by malnutrition and scurvy. Later in the process, it also became intended as a doctoral dissertation which was refused by a professor of philosophy at Copenhagen University. It is, amongst other things, a critique of Kierkegaard's triad of aesthetic, ethical and religious stages, and of his definition of truth. Another powerful influence appears to be present in ghostly form : Friedrich Nietzsche. It is one of the most fundamental texts to understand Jorn's undertaking of "a reconstruction of philosophy from the point of view of an artist".


''Internationale Situationniste'' (1957–1961)

*''Originality and Magnitude (on Isou's System)'' (1960), article in Internationale Situationiste No. 4. *''Open Creation and its Enemies'' (1960), article in Internationale Situationiste No. 5. *''Pataphysics, A Religion in the Making'' (1961), article in Internationale Situationiste No. 6.


Value and Economy

Critique of Political Economy and the Exploitation of the Unique (1961) This book consists of two parts. The first is a concise critique of the apparent contradictions in Marx's ''Das Kapital'' which Jorn uses to prepare the ground for a discussion of how the work of "the creative elite" can have "value" in any future society aligned on communist principles. This was originally published in French in 1959 by the ''Internationale Situationniste'' and is the most straightforward and least discursive of all of Jorn's texts, probably because Guy Debord had a hand in the editing. The second part is a long polemic against contemporaneous Russian revisionism and the failed attempt by Denmark and Britain to join the Common Market, before coming to Jorn's main proposal, an economically independent international "creative elite" adopting typical Scandinavian institutions to realize "artistic value" for the greater universal good. He also attempts to reconcile the unique and individual position of the "creative elite" with his socialist principles. The second part alternates between objective and subjective modes.


The Natural Order (1962)

:''If this is a critique of Niels Bohr's theory of complementarity, then it is also to just the same high degree a critique of that
dialectical materialism Dialectical materialism is a philosophy of science, history, and nature developed in Europe and based on the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxist dialectics, as a materialist philosophy, emphasizes the importance of real-world con ...
, that I in my earliest youth took to my heart and perceived to be the only acceptable principle for thought.'' (Asger Jorn)


''Signes gravés sur les églises de l'Eure et du Calvados'' (1964)

Jorn had noticed some graffiti scratched into the porch at the church in Damville during a visit in 1946. Having noticed similar scratchings in Scandinavia at the cathedrals in Ribe,
Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...
, and Trondheim, Jorn decided to study the phenomenon. He was able to make a trip to Normandy in 1961 with Franceschi. They were able to record a number of such markings in
Eure Eure () is a department in Normandy in Northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2019, Eure had a population of 599,507.Calvados, but not elsewhere. The results of the study were published as a book.,
Peter Vilhelm Glob Peter Vilhelm Glob (20 February 1911 – 20 July 1985), also known as P. V. Glob, was a Danish archaeologist. Glob was most noted for his investigations of Denmark's bog bodies such as the Tollund Man and Grauballe Man, mummified remains of Iro ...
,
Gutorm Gjessing Gutorm Gjessing (4 April 1906 – 27 April 1979) was a Norwegian archaeologist and ethnographer. He was director of the Ethnographic Museum at the University of Oslo and as major contributor to Circumpolar studies. Biography Gjessing wa ...
, and Michel de Boüard, with photographs by Gérard Franceschi (1964). ''
Signes gravés sur les églises de l'Eure et du Calvados Signes may refer to: * "Signes" (song), a 2005 single by Nâdiya * Signes, Var, a commune in the Var department in France * Signes, a corner on the Circuit Paul Ricard The Circuit Paul Ricard () is a French motorsport race track built in 1969 a ...
''. Volume II of the Bibliothéque Alexandrie, published by the
Scandinavian Institute of Comparative Vandalism The Scandinavian Institute of Comparative Vandalism ( da, Skandinavisk institut for sammenlignende vandalisme) is a non-profit organization, non-profit cultural institute based in Denmark. It was founded in 1961 by the Denmark, Danish artist Asge ...
.


See also

* Art of Denmark *
List of Danish painters This is a list of Danish painters who were born in or whose creative production is associated with Denmark: A * Axel Aabrink (1887–1965) * Jørgen Aabye (1868–1959) * Carl Frederik Aagaard (1833–1895) * Nikolaj Abraham Abildgaard (1 ...
*
Members of the Situationist International List of people that, at different times, have been members of the Situationist International: Algerian Section *Hadj Mohamed Dahou *Abdelhafid Khatib American Section *Robert Chasse *Bruce Elwell *Jan Horelick *Tony Verlaan Belgian Section ...
* Museum Jorn, Silkeborg * Tachisme


Notes


References

*Guy Atkins, Asger Jorn and Troels Andersen: Asger Jorn. Jorn In Scandinavia. 1930 - 1953. A study of Asger Jorn's artistic development from 1930 to 1953 and a catalogue of his oil paintings from that period. London, 1968 *Guy Atkins, Asger Jorn and Troels Andersen: Asger Jorn. The Crucial Years 1954 - 1964. A study of Asger Jorn's artistic development from 1954 to 1964 and a catalogue of his oil paintings from that period. London 1977 *Guy Atkins, Asger Jorn and Troels Andersen: Asger Jorn. The Final Years, 1965 - 1973. A study of Asger Jorn's artistic development from 1965 to 1973 and a catalogue of his oil painting from that period. London 1980 *Guy Atkins and Troels Andersen: Asger Jorn. Supplement to the oeuvre catalogue of his paintings from 1930 to 1973. London 1986 *Guy Atkins and Troels Andersen: Asger Jorn. Revised supplement to the œuvre catalogue of his paintings from 1930 to 1973. Copenhagen 2006 *Jens Staubrand: ''Asger Jorn – On the author Ager Jorn and his five books from the Scandinavian Institute of Comparative Vandalism and Index to Asger Jorn's five books from the Scandinavian Institute of Comparative Vandalism'', Copenhagen 2009. . The book is in English and Danish. *Jens Staubrand: ''Asger Jorn-aforismer, og andre korte tekststykker", Valby 1995 . / 9788721001759 * Niels Viggo Bentzon (chamber music work): 'Det banale'
he Banal He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
for mezzosopran og cello, Frederiksberg 1995. At The Royal Library, Copenhagen, Denmark. *Asger Jorn: ''Naturens Orden
he Natural Order He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
'', København 1962 *Asger Jorn: ''Værdi og Økonomi alue and Economy'', København 1962 *Asger Jorn: ''Held og Hasard
uck and Chance UCK may refer to: *Ubuntu Customization Kit, a tool to create a customized Live CD of Ubuntu *UCK, the National Rail code for Uckfield railway station Uckfield railway station is the southern terminus of a branch of the Oxted Line in England, s ...
'', København1963 *Asger Jorn: ''Ting og Polis hing and Polis'', København 1964 *Asger Jorn: ''Alfa og Omega lpha and Omega'', København 1963–64 *
Graham Birtwistle Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan Gr ...
: ’'Asger Jorn's comprehensive theory of art between Helhesten and Cobra 1946–1949'’, Utrecht 1986. *
Troels Andersen, Brian Rasmussen and Roald Pay Truls or Troels is a Nordic masculine given name. Truls is mainly used in Norway, and to a lesser extent in Sweden. Troels is predominantly used in Denmark. It is a short form of ''Torgils'', derived from Old Norse ''Þórgísl'' (Old Danish '' ...
: ‘'Jorn in Havanna'’, Copenhagen 2005. The book is in English and Danish. * * ''Comparative Vandalism: Asger Jorn and the artistic attitude to life'' by
Peter Shield Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...
, Borgen/Ashgate (1998) * ''The Natural Order and Other Texts'' by Asger Jorn (Translated by Peter Shield), Ashgate (2002) * ''Asger Jorn : en biografi'' Troels Andersen, Copenhagen (1994) 2 volumes. * Tom McDonough (2002)
Art in America
' July 2002 * Norbert Haas/Vreni Haas: ''Jorn paa Laesoe''. Vaduz: Chaosmos Press 2012. * Norbert Haas: ''Jorns Stalingrad''. -In: Liechtensteiner Exkurse VI, Eggingen: Edition Isele 2007, S. 275-296. * Norbert Haas: ''Forever Jorn''. Wädenswil am Zürichsee: Nimbus. Kunst und Bücher 2014. 208 Seiten. .


External links


Biography, pictures and huge list of exhibited paintings at Galerie Birch, famous for Asger Jorn and the COBRA-movement

Asger Jorn in Høst, Cobra, Group Spur and Situationists
in German
Actual exhibitions with Asger JornMuseum Jorn, Silkeborg (formerly Silkeborg Kunstmuseum)Exhibition at Fundació Antoni Tàpies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jorn, Asger Art Informel and Tachisme painters 1914 births 1973 deaths Danish modern painters Situationists Gotland 20th-century Danish painters Danish abstract painters Danish watercolourists Danish resistance members People from Struer Municipality People from Silkeborg 20th-century Danish sculptors Danish male sculptors 20th-century male artists Danish male painters Danish magazine founders 20th-century Danish male artists