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Distributed for Scheidegger & Spiess

Asger Jorn in Images, Words and Forms

Danish artist Asger Jorn (1914–73) was one of the most important exponents of modern Nordic art. This book provides an amusing, rather unusual introduction to this highly unconventional figure of Europe’s post-war artistic avant-garde. Conceived as an imaginary museum of sixteen richly illustrated galleries, it shows the manifold aspects of Jorn´s oeuvre, and for the first time reveals the entire range of his artistic production. The text offers a scholarly introduction, followed by a series of diverting “short stories” on Jorn. Drawing on original letters, interviews, photographs, press clippings, and even excerpts from Jorn’s mother’s unpublished book about her son, they give insight into the artist´s life as well as his charismatic personality, his relationships with fellow artists and his involvement with artistic movements such as CoBrA and the Situationist International. The stories range from presenting Jorn as a political activist and Marxist philosopher to more intimate details, such as his role as a father and his failed endeavor to receive a doctoral degree in philosophy from the University of Copenhagen in the early 1950s.

Asger Jorn in Images, Words, and Forms is a long awaited and easy to read general introduction to the life and work of an equally important and original figure in 20th-century art.


144 pages | 150 color plates | 9 x 11 | © 2014

Art: Art--General Studies


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Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Asger Jorn, a Bad Painter? / Press reviews of the first exhibition in Silkeborg

Paris, the City of Love  / Surprising discoveries and new horizons

That’s the Way You Were . . . ! / From the writings of Jorn’s mother

On the Road / Insights into the daily life of a nomadic artist

Asger Jorn, a “Professor for Things in General”? / Refusal of a doctorate by the University of Copenhagen

The Synthesis / A leitmotif for thinking, living, and creating

Father Jorn / Dedications to Klaus, Susanne, Troels, Martha, Olga, Ole, Bodil, and Ib

A Word and a Blow! / The Cobra group and the Situationist International

Asger Jorn, Picasso of the North? / TheScandinavian Institute of Comparative Vandalism

Art and Politics / To every age its art, to art its freedom

Asger Jorn, Verbal Acrobat / The evolution and transformation of titles

Casa Jorn, Albissola / Refuge of a master world builder

On Everyone’s Lips / Philosophical tidbits from Jorn’s cuisine

Asger Jorn, a Sore Winner? / The refusal of the National Guggenheim Award

Jorn the Art Collector / A glimpse into the Silkeborg cabinet of wonders

Hope Dies Last / Impressions of the attending physician during Jorn’s last days

Biography

Image Credits

Imprint

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