When a selection of Asger Jorn’s linocuts –most of them previously unknown – were discovered in the basement of his brother’s house in Silkeborg, Denmark, Jorn’s family entrusted Museum Jorn in Silkeborg with the plates. The museum approached Niels Borch Jensen and his master printers to investigate their condition and the possibility of printing from them. The results of the test printing were so pleasing that Museum Jorn and BORCH Editions decided to publish a selection of motives.
Most of the plates were cut before Jorn left for Paris in 1936 to study at Fernand Léger’s Académie Contemporaine and are reminiscent of German expressionist graphics of the early 20th century. His earliest linocuts were published in a scout and a school magazine in his hometown Silkeborg. Later, some of his prints appeared in the Marxist journal Frem under the pseudonym Asger Isen. Jorn had joined the Danish Communist Party early in his youth.
The skilfulness and expertise with which Jorn cut these plates at the young age, is outstanding. The motives show Jorn’s humoristic yet clear political mind, providing an insight into his engagement with family, art, and the social issues of his time whilst defining the very beginnings of his narrative visual language.