COBRA (avant-garde movement)

COBRA (or CoBrA) was a European avant-garde movement active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels (Br), Amsterdam (A).

History

COBRA was formed by Karel Appel, Constant, Corneille, Christian Dotremont, Asger Jorn, and Joseph Noiret on the 8th November 1948 in the Café Notre-Dame, Paris,^[1] with the signing of a manifesto, "La Cause Était Entendue" (The Case Was Settled),^[2] drawn up by Dotremont. Formed with a unifying doctrine of complete freedom of colour and form, as well as antipathy towards surrealism, the artists also shared an interest in Marxism as well as modernism.

Their working method was based on spontaneity and experiment, and they drew their inspiration in particular from children’s drawings, from primitive art forms and from the work of Paul Klee and Joan Miró.^[1]

Coming together as an amalgamation of the Dutch group Reflex, the Danish group Høst and the Belgian Revolutionary Surrealist Group, the group only lasted a few years but managed to achieve a number of objectives in that time; the periodical Cobra, a series of collaborations between various members called Peintures-Mot and two large-scale exhibitions. The first of these was held at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, November (1949), the other at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Liège (1951).

In November 1949 the group officially changed its name to 'Internationale des Artistes Expérimentaux' with membership having spread across Europe and the USA, although this name has never stuck. The movement was officially disbanded in 1951, but many of its members remained close, with Dotremont in particular continuing collaborations with many of the leading members of the group.^[3]

The primary focus of the group consisted of semi-abstract paintings with brilliant color, violent brushwork, and distorted human figures inspired by primitive and folk art and similar to American action painting. Cobra was a milestone in the development of Tachisme and European abstract expressionism.

Participants

Prominent participants in COBRA included:

Karel Appel (1921–2006) Corneille (1922–2010) Pierre Alechinsky (born 1927) Else Alfelt (1910–1974) Jean-Michel Atlan (1913–1960) Mogens Balle (1921–1988) Ejler Bille (1910–2004) Pol Bury (1922–2005) Jacques Calonne (born 1930) Hugo Claus (1929–2008) Christian Dotremont (1922–1979) Jacques Doucet (1924–1994) Lotti van der Gaag (1923–1999) William Gear (1915–1997) Stephen Gilbert (1910–2007) Svavar Guðnason (1909–1988)

Reinhoud d'Haese (1928–2007) Henry Heerup (1907–1993) Egill Jacobsen (1910–1998) Edouard Jaguer (1924–2006) Asger Jorn (1914–1973) Aart Kemink (1914–2006) Lucebert (1924–1994) Ernest Mancoba (1904–2002) Sonja Ferlov Mancoba (1911–1984) Jørgen Nash (1920–2004) Jan Nieuwenhuys (1922–1986) Erik Ortvad (1917–2008) Pieter Ouborg (1893–1956) Carl-Henning Pedersen (1913–2007) Raoul Ubac (1910–1985) Serge Vandercam (1924–2005)

Related artists

Artists who had contact with COBRA, and were influenced by them:

• Enrico Baj
• Jerome Bech
• Herbert Gentry
• Robert Jacobsen
• Vali Myers
• John Olsen (artist)
• Shinkichi Tajiri
• Alasdair Taylor
• Louis Van Lint
• Maurice Wyckaert (1923–1996)

Legacy

There is a Cobra Museum in Amstelveen, Netherlands, displaying works by Karel Appel and other international avant-garde art.

Auctioneers Bruun Rasmussen held an auction of COBRA artists on April 3, 2006 in Copenhagen. It set records for the highest price for an Asger Jorn painting (6.4 million DKK for Tristesse Blanche) and for the highest amount raised in a single auction in Denmark (30 million DKK in total).

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} MOMA online http://moma.org/collection/details.php?theme_id=10954&displayall=1
2. ^ "La Cause Était Entendue" is an ironical reference to the manifesto "La Cause Est Entendue" (The Case Is Settled) from the supporters of Revolutionary Surrealism
3. ^ http://www.cobra-museum.nl/en/cobra.html Cobra Museum

External links

• Huntfor.com/arthistory
• Didrichsenmuseum.fi
• Galerie Birch, Danish gallery founded 1946 specializing in COBRA
• Museum Jorn, Silkeborg