Asger Jorn & Jacqueline de Jong: The Case of the Ascetic Satyr
Snapshots from Eternity
Text by Kevin Repp, Marc Lenot, Roberto Ohrt, Karen Kurczynski, Axel Heil.
In 1962, while living in Paris, Dutch painter, sculptor and editor of The Situationist Times Jacqueline de Jong (born 1939) completed a set of 11 woodcut engravings, a medium in which she rarely worked. Danish painter and writer Asger Jorn (1914–1973) adored the engravings and decided to publish them. First, however, Jorn decided to compose a set of texts to accompany the art work, turning the suite of engravings into an "erotic novel" which they called "The Case of the Ascetic Satyr." Over the course of the next decade they jotted down playful (and occasionally sexually explicit) notes to each other on anything that came to hand--exhibition flyers, cocktail napkins, even an unused sheet from Memoires, Jorn's famous collaborative artist's book with Guy Debord. The texts are mostly in English, the language Jorn and de Jong usually used together, though some are in French, Danish, Dutch or German. Wordplay is prevalent, sometimes referring to James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. In the end, the book project outlasted the relationship between the two artists, and so was never published. This beautifully produced artist's book--published in a signed and numbered edition of 200 copies--is thus not so much a facsimile as a true first edition, with the prints accompanied by replicas of the notes between the two lovers. A companion volume includes essays on the piece by leading art historians in the field, Kevin Repp, Marc Lenot, Roberto Ohrt, Karen Kurczynski and Axel Heil.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Artforum
Greil Marcus
Far more than any conventional memoir, the book catches the real mood, the ambience, of a love affair: the way it is, spinning from desire into loss, fury into abasement, everything heightened, everything new.
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In the current issue of Artforum, Greil Marcus contributes a major review of the remarkable, never-before-published Situationist artist book / love story / erotic correspondence, Asger Jorn & Jacqueline de Jong: The Case of the Ascetic Satyr (subtitled "Snapshots from eternity). "Far more than any conventional memoir, the book catches the real mood, the ambience, of a love affair: the way it is, spinning from desire into loss, fury into abasement, everything heightened, everything new." Pictured here are some of the original notes between lovers, reproduced in this volume as scale replicas (printed front and back) in an enclosed portfolio. The bottom note reads, "The April of Eve on The Eve of April." The top note ends, "That's all down the pants and let us get to it." continue to blog
"Opening The Case of the Ascetic Satyr is a bit like lifting the lid on a puzzle box, an old one that has been opened many times before," Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library curator Kevin Repp writes in his introduction to this remarkable new artist's book published in a signed and numbered edition of 200 copies. "What is it supposed to be? There is no picture on the cover to give a clue. Only a string of possible titles, indifferently scrawled in two different hands across rough brown butcher paper. From among them, the editor of this edition has apparently derived the present, abbreviated version. 'The case of the ascetic satyr. and the the sadistic martyr. Torro del mare. Pantalan,' the hand of Asger Jorn puts forth; 'flowerpower, Ms Gebed, Snapshots of eternity,' parries the jousting hand of Jacqueline de Jong. Still other titles surface on the scrambled scraps of paper to be found inside: 'the case of the violating violin—the violin violating viola da gamba,' and so on. And on. Rather than hints or answers, a cacophonous din of jibes, jokes and the jarring immediacy of intimate conversations between strangers suddenly interrupted speaking in tongues. How do the woodcuts fit in? They seem to offer some sort of structure. Yet the sibylline series of Jacqueline's images confronts us like a row of quizzical sphinxes. Doubts arise. Are there pieces missing? Perish the thought. But how can you tell?" The Case of the Ascetic Satyr launches tonight at Blum & Poe; advance copies will be available at ARTBOOK @ MoMA PS1 during the New York Art Book Fair. continue to blog
ARTBOOK | D.A.P. and Blum & Poe invite you to join Jacqueline de Jong in conversation with Kevin Repp, Curator of Modern European Books & Manuscripts at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, for the launch of Asger Jorn & Jacqueline de Jong: The Case of the Ascetic Satyr this Wednesday, September 16 from 5-7 PM. continue to blog
Asger Jorn & Jacqueline de Jong: The Case of the Ascetic Satyr Snapshots from Eternity
Published by JDJ/D.A.P.. Text by Kevin Repp, Marc Lenot, Roberto Ohrt, Karen Kurczynski, Axel Heil.
In 1962, while living in Paris, Dutch painter, sculptor and editor of The Situationist Times Jacqueline de Jong (born 1939) completed a set of 11 woodcut engravings, a medium in which she rarely worked. Danish painter and writer Asger Jorn (1914–1973) adored the engravings and decided to publish them. First, however, Jorn decided to compose a set of texts to accompany the art work, turning the suite of engravings into an "erotic novel" which they called "The Case of the Ascetic Satyr." Over the course of the next decade they jotted down playful (and occasionally sexually explicit) notes to each other on anything that came to hand--exhibition flyers, cocktail napkins, even an unused sheet from Memoires, Jorn's famous collaborative artist's book with Guy Debord. The texts are mostly in English, the language Jorn and de Jong usually used together, though some are in French, Danish, Dutch or German. Wordplay is prevalent, sometimes referring to James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. In the end, the book project outlasted the relationship between the two artists, and so was never published. This beautifully produced artist's book--published in a signed and numbered edition of 200 copies--is thus not so much a facsimile as a true first edition, with the prints accompanied by replicas of the notes between the two lovers. A companion volume includes essays on the piece by leading art historians in the field, Kevin Repp, Marc Lenot, Roberto Ohrt, Karen Kurczynski and Axel Heil.
