Ib Geertsen: "Rytmisk rum" 1950, oil on canvas, estimated at DKK 20,000-25,000 and Bent Sørensen: Untitled. Painted bronze. Estimate: DKK 20,000-25,000.

Online Auction: Concrete art

In the late 1940s, a group of Danish artists gathered around a geometric expression. Behind the geometric forms lay the desire for a universal art that could be experienced and understood by all because it depicted nothing other than what it was. At the Online Auction on 6 August, we’ll be presenting colourful, geometric compositions by some of the best representatives of Concrete art and Klar Form (Clear Form), including Richard Mortensen, Ib Geertsen, Bent Sørensen and Jean Deyrolle.

In contrast to the spontaneous and imaginative creations of the CoBrA movement, in Denmark, the Concrete expression arose when the artists experimented with a universal and rational idiom based on geometric principles and a few primary colours. The development of the art movement was energised, and it gained momentum by virtue of its international outlook and international contacts between the artists. The Concrete artists defined themselves as a counterreaction to the contemporary art movement, CoBrA.

“At a time when the many impressions of visual culture are truly bombarding our senses, we are experiencing an increasing demand for the easily decipherable idiom and simple palette of Concrete art. Concrete art is objectless in the sense that the works do not relate to a motivic depiction or reality. The work's own premises are examined within the frame as a play between colour, shape, figure and material.”
Niklas Langeland Pedersen
Specialist in Modern Art & Contemporary Art at Bruun Rasmussen

Linien II

In 1947, the Copenhagen art scene saw the establishment of “Linien II”, an exhibition community of artists such as Ib Geertsen, Richard Winther, Bamse Kragh-Jacobsen and Albert Mertz, who that same year exhibited at Tokantens galleri in Copenhagen. The name Linien, or The Line in English, was to underline a continuation of the significant efforts of the “Linien” group and art journal in the 1930s. At the group’s second exhibition in 1948, the works exhibited were almost exclusively constructive, which would prove pivotal to the further development of Concrete art in Denmark. Richard Mortensen and Robert Jacobsen participated as guests at the first two exhibitions, as did Jean Dewasne, Jean Deyrolle and Serge Poliakoff, international names from the circle around Galerie Denise René. However, the Linien II artists were not tied to Concretism as a formal doctrinal programme of a unidirectional art movement.

Richard Mortensen: “Fium 'Orbo. 21 dåbsattester nr. 17", 1962 (Fium 'Orbo. 21 birth certificates No. 17). Oil on canvas. 100 x 81. Estimate: DKK 100,000-125,000

Ib Geertsen: "Rytmisk rum", 1950. Oil on canvas. 93 x 90 cm. Estimate: DKK 20,000-25,000

Knud Nielsen: Concrete composition, 1958. Signed Knud N and dated on the reverse. Oil on canvas. 55 x 38 cm. Estimate: DKK 10,000-15,000.

Jean Deyrolle: "Agrève", 1955-1956. Signed Deyrolle; signed on the reverse with title. Tempera on canvas. 55 x 38 cm. Estimate: DKK 25,000-30,000.

Klar Form

In 1950, in Den Frie’s exhibition building, Linien II held the largest exhibition of Concrete art in Denmark up to that point under the collective heading Klar Form. Besides Richard Mortensen and Robert Jacobsen, the exhibition almost exclusively featured major international artists, with works by Vasilij Kandinsky, Fernand Léger, Le Corbusier, Victor Vasarely, Alberto Magnelli and Jean Dewasne.

Knud Nielsen: Concrete composition, 1958. Oil on canvas. Estimate: DKK 10,000-15,000, and Jean Deyrolle: Untitled. Gouache on paper. Estimate: DKK 8,000.

Geometric Idiom as a Counterreaction

Concrete art is characterised by a geometric idiom, cleansed of references to the external reality. Visually, Concrete artists work with points, strokes and lines, with basic geometric shapes such as the circle, square and triangle, as well as with the colours yellow, blue, red, white and black. Concrete art is objectless. It depicts nothing other than what it is, i.e. shapes and/or colours.

The Online Auction features some of the best representatives of Concrete art.

The Preview is Open

Visit our preview in Lyngby and experience artworks in museum quality. In "the Box" you can see the beautiful Concrete artworks by, among others Robert Jacobsen, Richard Mortensen, Jean Deyrolle, Preben Hornung, Jean Dewasne, Ib Geertsen and Bent Sørensen. We are open every weekday in July, see our opening hours here and drop by in Lyngby.