Cut out wooden paths
Asger Jorns printmaking

In his work, Asger Jorn (1914 – 1973) celebrated a cheerful artistic vandalism that freed itself from all classic concepts of value and form and instead declared the creation of the wonderful, unknown, mysterious, imaginary and chaotic to be the task of art. Jorn is considered one of the most multifaceted figures of the European avant-garde after the Second World War. Like no other artist, he combines the classic expressionism of the early 20th century with the figurative-expressive currents of contemporary art. Through the synthesis of surrealism, informal, action painting and Nordic folk art, he created a new figurative painting that can be considered the forerunner of the Neue Wilden in Germany and Austria.

The publication accompanies the first Austrian retrospective of what is probably the most important Scandinavian artist of the 20th century alongside Edvard Munch and Per Kirkeby at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg. The lithographs, etchings, woodcuts and linocuts he created between 1932 and 1972 demonstrate the artist's love of experimentation and his interest in the possibilities of the material as well as his rich storytelling art and his wit.

Edited by Thorsten Sadowsky for the Museum der Moderne Salzburg. With texts by Lucas Haberkorn, Barbara Herzog, Lena Nievers and Thorsten Sadowsky

Hardcover, 16 x 24 cm, 144 pages, 100 illustrations
German edition: Klinkhardt & Biermann, Munich, 2019
ISBN 978-3-943616-62-0