Lot Essay
The 1960s are considered to be a high point of Jorn's career, both commercially and artistically. Although the CoBrA movement which he had co-founded with Appel, Alechinsky and company in 1948, had self-destructed in the early fifties, Jorn's importance had not diminished with its demise. Like the survivors of Abstract Expressionism, he had continued to develop his painting beyond the confines of one specific category of art history.
Executed in 1964, Allegretto Furbo was produced during a period of intense intellectual activity and comparative solitude for Jorn. He had lately become involved in the "Institute for Comparative Vandalism", an oddly named project whose intention was to produce a catalogue of Scandinavian art from Prehistory to the early Middle Ages. Its compilation involved extensive travel. It was lonely work, and a far cry from the heady days he had spent in Paris with his CoBrA brethren.
Such scholarly activity does seem surprising when contrasted with the delightful lightness and decorativeness of Allegretto Furbo. The influence of Nordic art and the Scandinavian landscape can however be discerned in the colours, which have the hazy technicolour brilliance of the Northern lights, and in the wierd group of trolls and goblins that populate the picture.
Allegretto Furbo was the largest canvas painted by Jorn at that time. It was also one of the liveliest. Foregoing the sombre palette of the early fifties, Jorn opts for vivid yellow, pillarbox red and flesh pink in a colour scheme and fluidity of execution that rival the contemporary paintings of De Kooning.
The energy and joy of Allegretto Furbo is perfectly expressed by the musical reference in its title. Like music, Jorn prefers that the exact meaning of the painting remains abstract and suggestive. Out of the swirling cacophony of colours, he allows us to fleetingly identify gnome-like heads, even a child's scooter, before they disappear back into the mire of impasto.
Executed in 1964, Allegretto Furbo was produced during a period of intense intellectual activity and comparative solitude for Jorn. He had lately become involved in the "Institute for Comparative Vandalism", an oddly named project whose intention was to produce a catalogue of Scandinavian art from Prehistory to the early Middle Ages. Its compilation involved extensive travel. It was lonely work, and a far cry from the heady days he had spent in Paris with his CoBrA brethren.
Such scholarly activity does seem surprising when contrasted with the delightful lightness and decorativeness of Allegretto Furbo. The influence of Nordic art and the Scandinavian landscape can however be discerned in the colours, which have the hazy technicolour brilliance of the Northern lights, and in the wierd group of trolls and goblins that populate the picture.
Allegretto Furbo was the largest canvas painted by Jorn at that time. It was also one of the liveliest. Foregoing the sombre palette of the early fifties, Jorn opts for vivid yellow, pillarbox red and flesh pink in a colour scheme and fluidity of execution that rival the contemporary paintings of De Kooning.
The energy and joy of Allegretto Furbo is perfectly expressed by the musical reference in its title. Like music, Jorn prefers that the exact meaning of the painting remains abstract and suggestive. Out of the swirling cacophony of colours, he allows us to fleetingly identify gnome-like heads, even a child's scooter, before they disappear back into the mire of impasto.