Willemijn Stokvis Knihy

"Immediately after the Second World War, artists from various Northern European countries founded the Cobra movement (1948-51). This group of artists - which included the Danes Asger Jorn and Carl-Henning Pedersen, the Dutchmen Karel Appel, Constant and Corneille, and the Belgian Pierre Alechinksy - cherished the ideal of making the way free for a new people's art for the new society to come. Their ideals were expressed in several publications, exhibitions and joint works. Seeking the source of creativity present in all human beings (as they believed), these painters were inspired by the forms of expression of primitive and naive artists, as well as those of children and the mentally disturbed. From 1951 a number of these artists pursued their ideals (though in modified form) in other movements. By the mid-fifties several former members of the Cobra group were to receive international acclaim for their expressionist works, brimming with vitality, in which mysterious imaginary creatures shelter within the stirring mass of paint." - book jacket.

Throughout the 20th century, prominent artists from Pablo Picasso to A. R. Penck have experimented with ceramics. The works they produced have complemented and often expanded upon their styles and techniques in painting and sculpture, but they have rarely been studied by art historians. Here for the first time are ceramic works by 23 European artists, all from the extensive collection of artists' pottery at the Museum Het Kruithuis in the Netherlands -- the only such collection in the world. Ceramics by Miro, Leger, Chagall, Braque, Dufy, and Cocteau are beautifully illustrated and discussed, as is the work of Karel Appel, Asger Jorn, and other members of the mid-century CoBrA movement, and that of contemporary artists such as Mimmo Paladino and Bruce McLean. Essays set the ceramics in context, and documentary photographs show the artists at work.

The NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale collection of Cobra art includes more than 1,600 works and is the largest American museum collection of Cobra works, thanks in large part to Golda and Meyer Marks donating their collection from 1978 until their deaths in 1998 and 1991, respectively. Comprised of the artists Asger Jorn, Pierre Alechinsky, Karel Appel, Constant and Corneille, Cobra was born as an art collective in 1948, named for its artists’ home cities (Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam). Cobra art is raw, vital, spontaneous, political and filled with dynamic abstract and semi-abstract forms. Recent study of the movement has led to a greater understanding of how acts of artistic resistance may influence current events. This monograph includes text by renowned experts in the field, 150 illustrations and detailed entries on 29 artists.