Asger Jorn · "Stankelben"
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1 800 000 DKK i originalvaluta · Klubbat pris — auktionshuset publicerar ingen budhistorik.
“Stankelben” (Daddy-Longlegs), 1939. Painted on the reverse. Signed Asger J 39. Oil on canvas. 85×60 cm. Literature: Guy Atkins: “Jorn in Scandinavia 1930–1953”, London 1968, no. 111, reproduced p. 327. Literature: “Angli: Åge Damgård A/S Shirt Factory at Herning”. A collection in use: A book about art at Angli, 1962, reproduced p. 20. Exhibited: “Asger Jorn”. One-man exhibition of works in the private collections of Aage Damgaard, Frode Folkevang, Einer Madsen, Viborg, 1961, cat. no 10. Exhibited: “Asger Jorn - Robert Jacobsen”, one-man exhibition with Robert Jacobsen. Catalogue preface by Hans Kjærholm and manifesto of three pages by Jorn and others, Aarhus Universitet, 1961, cat. no. 7. Exhibited: Kunstforeningen, Copenhagen 1968, cat. no. 50. Provenance: Private collection, Denmark. One must always beware of overinterpreting a work and the intentions behind it. Even so, it is tempting to trace a connection between the title of this composition, and the popular film of the same name released the previous year, based on Jean Webster’s novel from 1912. In the story, a young girl grows up in an orphanage but is expelled after drawing a satirical cartoon deemed insolent. Her attempt to challenge the board and protest the injustice done to her is witnessed by a wealthy young man, who resolves to become her benefactor and finance her education. The girl never learns her patron’s true identity; she has seen only his long legs and therefore calls him “Daddy Long-Legs.” A series of entanglements and misunderstandings follows before the two are finally united in love. As mentioned, we do not know whether Jorn saw the film. Yet he surely shared its sympathy for — and ideal of — the individual who, despite resistance, breaks with conformist codes and liberates him or herself. The young Jorn wagers everything on an artistic career. In 1937 he issues shares in his art at forty kroner apiece, kick-starts his motorcycle, and rides to Paris. There he seeks out the creative circles he instinctively knows can form the foundation of the artistic universe he is beginning to build. His formal training takes place at L'Académie Moderne under Fernand Léger, yet in this painting one also senses his marked fascination with Joan Miró and Paul Klee. The former’s organic, flowing forms and primary colors seem almost to provide the template for the reverse side of the canvas, compositionally echoed on the front, while being infused with the sensitivity and tonal subtlety that Klee represents. In Klee’s celebrated painting Fish Magic from 1925, a matchstick-like figure surprisingly waves at the viewer, as though the artist himself were sending a greeting. A similar gesture may be discerned in Jorn’s playful work, which appears to mirror his own journey toward release — a figure, at full volume, exploring, conquering, and claiming an inexhaustible artistic universe and creative joy in years to come. This lot is subject to Artist's Royalty . Artist’s Royalty In accordance with Danish copyright law, an additional royalty fee is to be paid for the purchase of works by contemporary Danish artist and some international artists who are either still alive, or who died within the last 70 years. Read more ×