Alfred Jensen (painter, 1903)

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"Twelve Events in a Dual Universe", oil painting by Alfred Jensen (1978)

Alfred Jensen ( Alfred Julio "Al" Jensen; born December 11, 1903 in Guatemala City , Guatemala , † April 4, 1981 in Livingston near Glen Ridge , New Jersey , USA ) was an American painter . He was one of the major exponents of Abstract Expressionism at the New York School . He is known for his painted nets of tiny, colorful triangles and squares, which he had painted in thick impasto .

Life

Jensen was German on his mother's side and Danish on his father's side . He spent his youth in Denmark and was already interested in drawing as a teenager . After school, Jensen first worked as a sailor and toured California and Guatemala. In 1924 he moved to San Diego . He received a scholarship and studied from 1924 to 1925 at the San Diego Fine Arts School with Eugene De Vol . In 1926 Jensen moved to Germany and studied under Hans Hofmann in Munich at the art academy until 1928 . From 1929 to 1937 he made extensive study trips to Paris , through numerous European cities and through North Africa . In 1937 he settled in New York City . In 1938 he had an important meeting with André Masson , which was to shape him artistically.

Alfred Jensen's first solo exhibition took place in 1952 at the John Heller Gallery in New York. Initially, Jensen still painted gestural-expressionistically and then from 1957 found his own painting style in geometric abstraction , which he created in pure spectral colors . The theoretical foundations of his painting were based on an intensive preoccupation with the theory of color by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and in dealing with the writings of Leonardo da Vinci . Jensen also dealt with various number systems and mathematical theories. He addressed the Mayan calendar and the theories of Michael Faraday in his painting. During these years he again went on study trips to Mexico , Peru , Guatemala and Brazil . In the 1960s he mainly painted serial pictures.

Al Jensen had solo exhibitions in 1961 at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and in 1964 at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam . In the same year, his works were shown at the documenta III in Kassel in the painting department . He was also called to participate in the 4th documenta in 1968 and documenta 5 in 1972 . In 1973 the Kestner-Gesellschaft , Hanover, organized a solo exhibition, which was also shown in the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk (Denmark), in the Kunsthalle Baden-Baden , in the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf and in the Kunsthalle Bern . In 1979 he was represented at the São Paulo Biennale . In 2001 the Dia Center for the Arts , New York , showed the exhibition Alfred Jensen: Concordance .

His works are part of public collections including the Museum of Modern Art , the Baltimore Museum of Art , the Dallas Museum of Art , the Dia Center for the Arts, New York, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the National Gallery of Art , Washington, DC

literature

  • documenta III. International exhibition. Catalog: Volume 1: Painting and Sculpture; Volume 2: Hand Drawings; Volume 3: Industrial Design, Graphics. Kassel / Cologne 1964
  • IV. Documenta. International exhibition. Catalog: Volume 1: (Painting and Sculpture); Volume 2: (Graphics / Objects). Kassel 1968.
  • Alfred Jensen ; Catalog 1/1973 of the Kestner Society, Hanover, for the exhibition from January 12 to February 11, 1973.
  • documenta 5th survey of reality - visual worlds today. Catalog (as a file folder) Volume 1: (Material); Volume 2: (list of exhibits). Kassel 1972.
  • Alfred Jensen: Paintings and Works on Paper. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York 1985, ISBN 0-89207-051-X (exhibition catalog).
  • Marika Herskovic: American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s. An Illustrated Survey. New York School Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-9677994-1-4 , pp. 178-181.
  • Alfred Jensen: Concordance Foreword: Michael Govan, Contributions: Lynne Cooke, David Anfam , Michael Newman, Maria Reidelbach. Dia Art Foundation, New York, 2003, ISBN 0-944521-43-6 (exhibition catalog).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Jensen, Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jensen, Alfred Julio; Jensen, Al
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American painter of Danish origin
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Guatemala City
DATE OF DEATH April 4th 1981
Place of death Livingston , New Jersey, USA