SPECTACLE FAMOSO

For the first time in more than 50 years, Asger Jorn’s spectacular bronze sculptures are brought together.

In the final year of his life, Asger Jorn created a series of bronze sculptures that mark the culmination of an artistic career shaped by experimentation, curiosity, and a lifelong exploration of the human condition. In a ceramics workshop in the Italian town of Albisola, he modelled a group of figures in clay, which were subsequently cast in bronze. The result was 23 distinctive sculptures that, with their humour, vitality, and strong personalities, occupy a unique place within his artistic oeuvre.

For the first time since they were cast in 1972, the exhibition reunites Jorn’s bronze sculptures alongside a large number of the corresponding clay models. At the same time, it marks Museum Jorn’s many years of dedicated work to complete its collection of Jorn’s bronze sculptures.

To connect the sculptures with the place where they originated, Jorn gave the works Italian titles, including Brutto scherzo (Bad Joke), Hurlunare (Moonlit), and Spectacle famoso (Famous Spectacle). He also commissioned the photographers Bartoli and Mario Recrosio to document the production process through a series of photographs. These images are presented as part of the exhibition. Together with Recrosio, Jorn staged the bronze sculptures in landscapes and urban spaces on the outskirts of Milan, portraying them as imaginative creatures wandering through the world.

The museum’s recent acquisitions of Jorn’s sculptures, as well as this exhibition, have been made possible through the generous support of the Aage and Johanne Louis-Hansen Foundation, the Augustinus Foundation, the New Carlsberg Foundation, the Beckett Foundation, the Lemvigh-Müller Foundation, the Inge and Asker Larsen Foundation, the Lefebre and Schubert families, and the Tove and Carsten Løvbjerg Foundation.