February 6th- June 6th, 2021

Building Pictures: Georg Jacobsen and the Construction of Art

An exhibition about friendships with no borders, about Paris in the 1920's and about Danish painter Georg Jacobsen

Exploring the collections and stores of museums is like opening a treasure chest. Some works are famous, others are waiting to become so, whereas others again can look forward to being rediscovered. This is also true of the Danish artist and architect Georg Jacobsen (1887-1976).

Building Pictures: Georg Jacobsen and the Construction of Art begins in Paris in the 1920s, where Jacobsen and colleagues from throughout the world had come to study the construction of images. For many this constructive element became a way of life, whereas for others it represented a short, turbulent period in the wake of World War I. The exhibition focuses on Jacobsen and the Parisian art circle he belonged to, illustrates the construction of an artwork, and shows how the constructive approach was pursued by Jacobsen’s students at the Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo where he taught from 1935-40.

Even though Jacobsen is less of a prominent figure in Danish art history today, during his lifetime he often expressed his art opinions in art journals and the press. He was awarded honours and appointed to committees and boards, as a result of which he not only influenced his colleagues in Paris and students in Norway, but also the younger generation of Danish painters. It is therefore with great pleasure that we present this overlooked artist and his international connections through 115 works from public and private collections in Denmark and abroad through the themes The Parisian Circle, Picture Building, George Jacobsen, and The Oslo Years.

The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue in Danish and Norwegian, and will subsequently tour to Fuglsang Kunstmuseum and Trondheim Kunstmuseum.