The Art of Asger Jorn

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 the Louisiana public and part of the museum's collection. Rather, the book focuses 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.

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This is precisely the focus of the book, in which Lars Morell, a Danish historian of ideas, analyses Jorn's paintings. The author concludes that Jorn's paintings do not depict anything specific. In fact, it is as if Jorn caught them in the midst of transformation, where the motif becomes a new motif. 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 town of Albissola, known for its skilled ceramic craftsmen. Abroad, it became clear to Jorn that he was very attached to Nordic culture, and through his work with ceramics he gained the necessary experience to unleash the colors in his paintings.

While Jorn was primarily a painter, he also refined this art form by interacting with a number of other art forms. Asger Jorn's Art is thus not only a book about one artist's work, but also a book about the thinking behind modern art.

Author Lars Morell (b. 1956) has published several books in Danish about artists and works 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
Number of pages: 288, hardback Language:
English Author: Lars Morell
Publisher: Aarhus University Press