Metamorphose.1947.Pencil.24 x 37 cm. Signed,dated.Coll.EKA
K.O.Götz looking this old drawing 9th Feb.2002.
When World War II was over, artists established contacts with artists in other countries. Many of them went to Paris - the artistic capital in prewar years. Only few artists had been able to work freely during the war. But the ideological basis of their work collapsed. Moscows policy was terrible, the communists reimposed social realism. Stalin’s mass murdering came to light. This all happened before or in the same years as CoBrA was founded, and the ideological confusion came to cause endless disputes in the group. Mankind faces new terrors, such as weapons. Bombardement (1950), the painting by Alechinsky, speaks of war. CoBrA is in fact challenged by the wounds of the war and the new balance of power on a world scale. It would fit neither at the left nor within the new North American policy.
The United States had strengthened its involvement in Europe. The Marshall plan brought shiploads of technical equipment (and cash!) to European countries, soon accompanied by heavy propaganda, which included even traveling exhibitions of American art of the Pollock generation. CoBrA represented an alternative to Paris. There was no art market, and the traditional institutions were weak, recovering from wartime. In Denmark and Belgium nobody took interest. So, these artists turned to Paris, where a growing number of Americans visited to buy art. But the CoBrA artists were efficiently blocked from the Paris market, by their French colleagues. Other Paris critics considered CoBrA to be conservative, because it was not as "abstract" as the "School of Paris." They exhibited only occasionally and were never collected by American museums or private patrons. Soon the market moved to New York.
CoBrA artists did not restrict themselves to canvas and easel. Many of them were active in many areas, insisting on the CoBrA ideas of art as an active partner of society. Pedersen and Appel published poems. Jorn also published books and articles covering a wide range of subjects, from art theory, archeology and philosophy, to Marxist theories of economics. These cross-border activities clearly connect to CoBrA’s philosophy, as formulated most pointedly by Constant and Jorn. This activist attitude reflects CoBrA’s basic idea of responsibility, founded on Kierkegaard’s existentialism. Jean-Paul Sartre, CoBrA’s contemporary, said that man is doomed to freedom, and that freedom means taking responsibility for one’s actions. The responsibility of the artist was to contribute to all aspects of life—and still remain an artist—not a politician, scientist or historian. CoBrA’s main effort was to promote the importance of the artistic way of experiencing life.
On November 8, 1948 CoBrA was established in Cafe Notre-Dame at Quai Saint-Michel in the street Rue Saint-Jacques , Paris from artists of three countries, namely Denmark, Holland and Belgium. These artists were the painter Asger Jorn,the poets Christian Dotremont, Joseph Noiret,and the painters Karel Appel, Constant and Corneille,who were participating in an art d'avantgarde congress in Paris. The group's name was CoBrA. This name is an acronym, composed of the first letters of these countries' capitals COpenhagen, BRussels and Amsterdam.The headquarter of CoBrA was in the beginning a building called Cobrahuis at Rue du Marais in Brussels.Later the members of the group met normally in Paris.
CoBrA is probably the last group of the twentieth century of its kind in the tradition of the dadaists, futurists, constructivists and surrealists to rely on cooperation between artists. Cooperation among CoBrA artists is a condition of their work, relying on the unlimited respect for the individual and an "épainouissement tout aussi illimité dans la communauté." CoBrA built in a great mannor the cooperation with scientists, musicians, and film directors.
Roots :
At the end of the last century, Gauguin had fulfilled his interest in
primitive things by travelling to Tahiti and generally submitting himself
to the inspiration of Oceanic art. The circle around Picasso and the
German Expressionists also found inspiration in primitive cultures,
especially in their masks.
During the Second World War it was impossible for European artists to travel abroad and find inspiration in alien cultures. They were obliged to find their sustenance in such primitive works as were to be found for example in Danish culture. Thus Henry Heerup cycled from Copenhagen to Jelling to find inspiration in the intertwined dragon patterns from the Viking Age, while Egill Jacobsen found his in the Oceanic and Inuit masks in the ethnographical collection at the National Museum in Copenhagen. The Scandinavian petroglyphs and primitive art, the murals in the Danish churches, the ethnographical collections in the National Museum, children's drawings, the drawings of the mentally ill and Freud's theories became essential sources of inspiration in the 1940s for Danish artists such as Carl-Henning Pedersen, Asger Jorn, Egill Jacobsen, Henry Heerup, Ejler Bille, Mogens Balle, Erik Thommesen, Else Alfelt and Erik Ortvad.
Their interest in the forces of the human subconscious and the realisation that a work of art should not necessarily represent anything existing before hand, meant for these artists that a work of art primarily consists of lines, colour surfaces and rhythms in a space, or balances and movements in a piece of sculpture, all of which derived the potency of their expression and their message more or less independently of visual reality. It was a kind of abstract expressionism, though members of the CoBrA group generally never abandoned visual reality in favour of total non-figuration.
K.O.Götz was stationed during World War II in Norway as an officer in
a radar control-unit.He knew the stories of the myths in the northern parts of
Europe,but these stories of ghosties and gnomes had no influence of his work.
Artistic influence came only from the surrealism,especially by Roberto Matta,
Max Ernst and Wassily Kandinsky.
CoBrA's links to Scandinavian artistic tradition are obvious. Edvard Munch is one of their essential forerunners. It was the work precisely of the Danish artists in the period 1935-45 that became the actual prerequisite for CoBA. The Danish artists, who were a good deal older than their colleagues in Holland and Belgium, were thus the first to take the initiative for a discussion on the possibilities and working conditions facing artists and intellectuals in post-war Europe, thereby creating the basis for the formation of CoBrA.
Concept :
The CoBrA group wanted to create a new art and a new society with the help
of a new open and international idiom that spoke a language everyone could
understand.
The formation of the CoBrA movement was connected with the general desire
of its members to socialise society, and their "weapon" was pictorial art.
Most of the group members thus based themselves on Surrealism and Marxist
ideology as practised in the Communist Party, of which most were members.
Under the impact of the advance of Fascism, the Communist party provided
the opportunity precisely for ideological nuances and free artistic
expression. Thus, the Comintern and the Surrealist International organised
international collaboration one of the results of which was a series of
exhibitions in which Danish, Dutch and Belgian artists collaborated,
thereby establishing a basis for the foundation of CoBrA.
That these artists and poets came from Denmark, Holland and Belgium was probably due to the fact that political circumstances were similar in these countries. They were to some extent in opposition to the Parisian artistic milieu and its by now somewhat rigid Surrealistic programmatic art and also to Soviet support for pure social realism in 1948.
Direct expression of subconscious fantasy, veering from the cheerful to
the sinister with no censorship from the intellect.
Confusion between abstraction, figuration, painting, sculpture.
CoBrA's style can be described as spontaneous, instinctive,
wild, vital, colourful and for that time anti-aesthetic, provocative, in
short : experimental. The members of CoBrA practised different forms of
Raw art,Art informel and Abstract expressionism.
They were opposed to geometric abstraction. CoBrA was inspired by surrealism,
primitive art, children's drawings and mythology. During the short period of
its existence, a short-lived group from 1948 until 1951, Cobra manifested
itself as the most important movement in modern art, after World War II.
Although the group only existed as a collaborative group for a brief period,
it has to be said that CoBrA was an important event in the history of European
art,something that only now is being seriously acknowledged in wide circles.
But the CoBrA group also had an obvious significance in more recent
times for the new European painting of the 1980s.
Maybe this renaissance of CoBrA more clearly indicates a new start—the wave of new
painting which burst all over Europe in the late ’70s and early ’80s
In its characteristic manner CoBrA restored the German Expressionismus and
is the only legitimate root of
Die jungen Wilden ,a group of
young impetous painters in Germany in the eighties.
In the works by several of the ’80s generation of these German painters, i.e.,Peter Bömmels,
Elvira Bach, A.R.Penck ,Walther Dahn,Helmut Middendorf,Volker Tannert and other
references can be seen to CoBrA artists.
To the artists of that generation, CoBrA was the link back to the European
tradition of painting,a counterweight to the American domination emanating
from the Jackson Pollock generation via Pop Art to Minimalism and
Conceptualism.
The frontier between word and painting was uncertain.Writers like Dotremont and
Lucebert were also artists,artists like Corneille,Constant and
K.O.Goetz made poems
until today.They called it "Peinturemonts",a combination between until
word and picture.
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam Palais des Beaux Arts Liege
In addition to that a lot of smaller exhibitions and a film festival were put on.
In this period of time 15 works of art dealing with Cobra were published.
The conception of CoBrA should become and today -50 years later -as a matter of fact is a myth.
1999 the art of Cobra has been presented in several major exhibitions in many cities all around the world,e.g.in
Copenhagen,Silkeborg,Amstelveen,Dortmund,Herning,
Munich,Linz and Sao Paolo(Biennial).
It is worth betting that celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of the
birth of the movement will boost Cobra's and the artists rating.
Nonetheless it would appear that this relatively stable market distinguishes
between works specific to the 1950s and more recent ones by major names who
outlived the movement. There is a certain reawakening of interest, with
museums now seeking fifty years later to get hold of Cobra works.
Although the CoBrA group only existed for three years, they managed to
place themselves in the centre of the ideological debate in the Europe of
the day. They have since survived by dint of their artistic energy.
In 1951 the CoBrA magazine declares the end of CoBrA. The immediate reason for the
collapse of the group was the fact that both Jorn and Dotremont were hospitalized with
tuberculosis, caused by malnutrition and physical exhaustion. For the next ten years, very little
happened. CoBrA was forgotten. The Danish artists stayed at home, the Dutch likewise, except
for Karel Appel, who settled in New York. Corneille and Alechinsky established themselves in
Paris, and became active on the French art scene. K.O.Götz was member of german abstract "Informel"
and teacher at legendary Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 1959 until 1979.Only in the early ’60s was CoBrA "rediscovered."
Jorn had an international breakthrough, Alechinsky reached his mature CoBrA style, Appel showed
his dramatic gesture painting. Soon some of the Danish artists, like Pedersen and Jacobsen, came
out of their self-imposed "exiles." For them, it was a surprise to see their results from 30 years ago
finally being appreciated. The resurfacing of the CoBrA imagery took place in the midst of a period
dominated by American art, like pop, minimalism, conceptualism. CoBrA represented an alternative
of spontaneity, rage (we can refer again to Alechinsky’s Rage maitrisée), violent and poetic fantasy
that seemed to be out of place with its time. This voracity of desire is clearly present in the painting
Moment érotique [Erotic moment] (1949) by Constant.
CoBrA had several ambitions but nothing of them were really successful. The artistic program
of the Danish founders of CoBrA was to promote a spontaneous approach to painting, and a
pictorial language characterized by figurations not referring to the "real" world, but coming out
of the artist’s fantasy, reminiscent of organic forms, birds, animals, and mask figures.
This new abstract expressionism was fed on impulses from cubism, surrealism, Munch, and
primitive art, among other sources. As early as 1935, Egill Jacobsen developed a typical
CoBrA cross-cultural language, the "mask painting." This pictorial language of the mask, which
relied on Picasso’s use of African references and surrealist "automatic drawing," conveys
different experiences and states of mind. During wartime, the paintings by Jacobsen and
Pedersen reflect their fear and depression, but also home, exalted optimism, lust, joy of life and
erotic encounters. The Danish artists looked at "primitive" art, African and Oceanic, as a means
to communicate geographic and cultural boundaries. They did not take much interest in its
religious or ritual meaning. Instead they looked to artists like Picasso, Miró and Klee and the
german expressionists—how they appropriated the visual idioms of African and Oceanic traditional art.
Its revolutionary ideas and awakening of self-realization are still powerfully alive in modern art.
The movement posed an important link between rational and irrational, abstract and figurative
and between art and nature.
Many members have continued to develop on an individual path and for the most part have
gained international acclaim.
The first German Cobra-exhibition was presented at the
Märkisches Museum in Witten by E.P.Noelle.120 works of the artists were shown.
1950 was made by Luc Zangrie a ( unique ) Cobra-Movie in cooperation with Jean Raine, Pierre Alechinsky, Christian Dotremont, Olivier Strebelle, the musician André Souris and Henri Storck.
The Tannert/Boemmels/Rissa/K.O.Goetz art archives has produced three videos by Erich Kukies.
1.)The Cobra-exhibition at Museum am Ostwall,Dortmund in 1998
On this tape there is an interview with K.O.Goetz about Cobra by Maria
Xerisoti.
2.)The Cobra-exhibition at Museum of moderne Kunsten (Cobra-Museum) Amstelveen in 1998.
Live actions of K.O.Goetz and Corneille.
3.)K.O.Götz talked with E.Kukies. Date 25.11.2001
Links to another websites:
Antiquariat A.Sweertz,Amsterdam
Cobra-Museum,Amstelveen
Cobraart by Allan Linnemann,DK
CobraFineArt
Cobraart by Michael Heede,DK
Offbeat - Cobra and more
K.O.Goetz Homepage
Tannert-Boemmels-Rissa-K.O.Goetz Art Archives
Cobra - Fine Art , London
CoBrA-Page ??? -Here's a place for YOUR CoBrA-link!!
News-Neues --Exhibition-Ausstellung 17.7.2000
|
| Date : Datum |
|
|
|
Review and group, Linien, 1934 (Abstract Surrealism) Exhibition Society:Höst 1939,1950 Review : Hellhesten 1941,1944 Members included: A.Jorn,C.H.Pedersen,E.Jacobsen,E.Bille,Else Alfeld,H.Heerup,Sonja Ferlov,E.Ortvad, E.Thommeson,V.Gudrason Review and group :Spiralen Members included:Mogens Balle |
| Belgium |
|
Movement and review : Le Surrealisme Revulotionnaire 1947. Those taking part in Cobra included: C.Dotremont,J.Noiret,P.Bourgoinie, M.Harvenne,P.Alechinsky,J.Raine, I.de Heusch Reinhoud,H.Claus |
| Netherlands |
|
Movement:De experimentale group in Holland with review "Reflex",1948, absorbed into Cobra. Members included: K.Appel,Constant,Corneille,E.Brands, T.Wolvekamp,A.Rooskens,J.Nieuwenhuys, J.Elburg,G.Kouwennar,Lucebert,S.Tajiri |
| France |
|
Movement and review :Le Surrealisme Revolution naire 1947,48 Those involved with Cobra. included: J.M.J.Doucet,E.Jaquer,M.Ragon |
| Czechoslavia |
|
Group Ray:J.Instler |
| Germany |
|
K.O.Götz Review:Meta, 1948-53. |
| Sweden |
|
Group:Imaginisterna 1958,56 Members included: C.O.Hulten,A.Österlin,M.W.Svanberg |
| England |
|
S.Gilbert + W.Gear |
|
|
| France |
|
Review:Phases from 1954 Published by E.Jaguer |
| Primitivist Expressionism |
| A.Jorn, K.Appel, P.Alechinsky etc |
| Belgium |
|
Peinture-mot,especially encouraged byC.Dotremont |
| Italy |
|
The Nuclearists from 1952 E.Baj |
| The Netherlands |
|
Constant New Babylon |
|
Mouvement International Pour un Bauhaus Emaginiste |
| (1953-57) Members included:A.Jorn,E.Baj,Constant |
| Germany |
|
Group: Spur 1957,1962 |
| International Situationiste |
|
(1957-69) Members included: A.Jorn,Guy Debord,Constant |
Some of these days.
1949 . First Lithography . 62,2x41,3cm.
Signed,dated,titled.Copy 1/9.
Literature :Auction 4 . Sturies Düsseldorf,Germany. Nov 18th,2000 . Number 33 (illustrated). Estimate : 11.000 Euro Adress: Blücherstr.4 D-40477 Düsseldorf Fon:0211-5141354 Fax:0211-5140709 Mail:Auktionen@Sturies.de "CoBrA-Eine internationale Bewegung in der Kunst nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg" of Willemijn Stokvis, Braunschweig 1989.
Bedeutende Gemeinschaftsarbeit aus dem Gründungsjahr und Inkunabel der Cobra-Gruppe.Das Blatt entstand am 25.11.1949
im Atelier von Anders Österlin in Malmö , wo die Mitglieder der Gruppe gemeinsam den Stein bearbeiteten . In einem Brief an Pierre
Alechinsky schreibt Corneille über seinen Aufenthalt: >>We did a good job...in a lost house in Jutland....We did a lithograph together which didn't
turn out too badly....A real Indian ritual around a stone.<< |
| Lempertz Köln Auktion 816 v.5.12.2001 |
|
CoBrA Artists ( all ) |
| Alechinsky,
Pierre Alfelt, Else Appel, Karel Atlan, Jean Michel Balle, Mogens Bille, Ejler Brands, Eugène Bury, Pol Claus, Hugo Collignon,Georges Constant Corneille Cox, Jan Dotremont, Christian Doucet, Jacques Elberg, Jan G. Ferlov, Sonja Gear, William Gilbert, Stephen Götz, K.O. Gudnason, Svavar Heerup, Henry de Heusch, Luc Hultén, Carl Otto Jacobsen, Egill Jorn, Asger Kouwenaar, Gerrit van Lint, Louis Lucebert Mancoba, Ernst Nieuwenhuys, Jan Noiret, Joseph Ortvad, Erik Osterlin, Anders Pedersen, Carl-Henning Reinhoud Rooskens, Anton Schierbeek, Bert Tajiri, Shinkichi Thommesen, Erik Ubac, Raoul Vandercam, Serge Wolvecamp, Theo |
Belgian,
b.19 Oct.1927, painter, writer Danish, 1910 - 1974, painter Dutch, b.1921, also considered America, painter, sculptor French, 1913 - 1960, born in Algers, painter Danish, 1921 - 1988, painter Danish, Odder 6.3.1910, painter, sculptor Dutch, Amsterdam 1913 - 2002, painter French, b.1922, painter, sculptor Belgian, b.1929, poet, writer Belgian, b.1923, painter Constant Anton Nieuwenhuys, Dutch, b.1920, painter,sculptor, writer Cornelis van Beverloo, Liege, b.1922, considered Dutch, painter Belgian, 1910 - 1981, born in The Hague, painter, writer Belgian, 1922 - 1979, writer, painter French, 1924 - 1995, painter Dutch, b.1919, writer Sonja Ferlow Mancoba, Danish, 1911 - 1992, sculptor British, 1915 - 1997, painter British, b.1910, painter, sculptor Karl Otto, German, Aachen 1914 , painter, poet Iceland, 1919 - 1988, painter Danish, 1910 - 1993, painter, sculptor Belgian, b.1927, pseudonym Luc Zangerie, writer Swedish, b.1916, painter Danish, b.1910, painter Danish, 1914 - 1973, painter, sculptor, writer Dutch, b.1923, painter, writer Belgian, b.1909, writer Lucebertus J. Swaanswijk, Dutch, 1924 - 1998, painter, poet South African, b.1910, resides in Denmark, painter Dutch, 1922 - 1986, painter, the brother of Constant Belgian, b.1927,writer Danish, b.1917, painter Swedish, b.1926, painter Danish, Copenhagen 1913 - 1993, painter Reinhoud d'Haese, Belgian, b.1928, sculptor Dutch, 1906 - 1976, painter Dutch, b.1918, writer, poet American, b.1923, considered Dutch, sculptor Danish, b.1916, sculptor Belgian, b.1910 in Malmedy- 1985, painter, sculptor, photographer Belgian, b.1924 in Copenhagen, painter, sculptor, photographer Dutch, 1925 - 1992, painter |