Galerie Birch: ROBERT JACOBSEN

ROBERT JACOBSEN


	Iron sculpture midt 80'erne Black Composition. Unic

Born in 1912 Copenhagen Denmark - Died 1993

Sculptor, painter, printmaker

Biography

Before the Second World War Jacobsen worked in wood and stone, but after settling in Paris in 1947 he turned his attentions to abstract welded steel constructions in which line and form are brought spontaneously into balance with each other to produce a rhythmic elegance. In so doing he was following an artistic trail originally blazed by the Spanish sculptor Gonzalez in the period before the war.

Jacobsen has often been linked to the COBRA movement because of his friendship with Mortensen and Asger Jorn, although this is not entirely correct. Formally he belonged to the group of abstract artists around the famous Parisian gallery owner Denise René, who was later to make Vasarely’s «Op-Art» one of the greatest movements of its time. In 1955, after Jacobsen had already acquired considerable international recognition, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam honored him with a stunning retrospective.

His work can be divided in two genres: welded metal figures made in his «free time» and the more profound abstract constructions. Jacobsen painted these latter structures black, giving them the appearance of spatial drawings. From the later 1950’s his work becomes tauter, more compact and more prolific. All the major international museums of modern art include early works by Jacobsen in their collections.

Galerie Birch had close relationship with Robert and he made many exhibitions in our gallery. The first was in 1951 followed by others in 60-67-68-70-80-83-84-86 and 1987.

Selected exhibitions

Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

São Paulo

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

Guggenheim Museum, New York

Biennale, Venezia

Galerie Ariel, Paris

Palais Reale, Milan

FIAC, Paris

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Olympic Sculpture Park, Seoul, South Korea

Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen