The Art of Asger Jorn is not a typical biography of one of Denmark's most important painters, Asger Jorn (1914-1973) - well known to Louisiana audiences and part of the museum's collection. The book focuses rather on Jorn's artistic production: who he was inspired by, which artistic movements he was in contact with, and – not least – what his paintings depict.
This is precisely the focus of the book, where Lars Morell, Danish historian of ideas, analyzes Jorn's paintings. The author concludes that Jorn's paintings do not depict anything specific. Indeed, it is as if Jorn caught them in the middle of the transformation, where the subject becomes a new subject. Morell finds that the paradoxes and transformations characteristic of the works were influenced by Jorn's own life, which was constantly changing.
Asger Jorn was born in Denmark, but spent most of his artistic life abroad with workshops in both Paris and the Italian city of Albissola, famous for its skilled ceramic craftsmen. Abroad, it became clear to Jorn that he was very attached to the Nordic culture, and through his work with ceramics he gained the necessary experience to release the colors in his paintings.
While Jorn was first and foremost a painter, he simultaneously refined this art form by interacting with a number of other art forms. Asger Jorn's art is thus not just a book about the work of a single artist, but also a book about the thinking of modern art.
Author Lars Morell (b. 1956) has published several books in Danish about artists and works of art from the 20th century in particular. In English, he has previously published The Artist as Polyhistor , about the Danish artist Per Kirkeby.
Dimensions: H: 32.7 x W: 25.5 cm
Pages: 288, hardback
Language: English
Author: Lars Morell
Publisher: Aarhus University Press