Established 2002

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Robert Jacobsen (1912-1993) grew up in modest circumstances; born in Copenhagen’s Nyhavn district, he moved to Christianshavn before the age of two, spending his entire childhood there and completing his seven years of compulsory schooling at Prinsessegade School. His school years were unhappy, and the period immediately following was marked by restless maladjustment and brief stints in a variety of jobs. At different times, Jacobsen worked as an apprentice sausage maker, a laborer for a wine company, an office messenger, a jazz musician, a carnival game attendant, a sales representative, a bartender, and a badminton instructor, among other things; however, by the age of 17 or 18, a chance encounter led him to Henning Larsen’s art gallery in Vognmagergade in Copenhagen. There, he connected with a circle of slightly older artists—including Søren Hjorth Nielsen and the "barber-painter" John Christensen—who introduced him to the world of art.

Robert Jacobsen received a significant boost at the age of twenty when he saw a major official exhibition of modern German art at Den Frie Udstillingsbygning. Much later in life, he spoke of the powerful impressions he received at that exhibition—particularly from the works of Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky. Back in his own basement, Jacobsen translated this strong inspiration into paintings, linocuts, and wood sculptures; however, he still lacked self-confidence, and by the mid-1930s, he was also a family man with two children. He earned a living through a second-hand shop he ran with his mother—an experience that likely laid the foundation for his passion for collecting, trading, and finding new uses for overlooked objects. He stubbornly continued his artistic work, yet lacked the courage to exhibit it. His acquaintance with Asger Jørgensen (known as Jorn from 1946 onwards) gave him a boost; in 1942, with Jorn serving on the selection committee, Jacobsen had two sculptures accepted for the Artists' Autumn Exhibition. It was a relatively late debut, but it marked the beginning of a surge in both his artistic output and his exhibition activity.

Following his work with wood sculptures, Robert Jacobsen began creating stone sculptures in the early 1940s. Using abstract forms, he engaged in an organic and spontaneous exploration of creatures and physiognomies; he referred to most of these sculptures as "fabulous beasts." Around 1947, he abandoned stone sculpture in favor of iron—a material that would become his preferred medium throughout his career. For Robert Jacobsen, as for many of his contemporaries, France was a highly attractive destination after the isolation of the Second World War. In 1947, Jacobsen set off for Paris with Richard Mortensen—specifically to *La Maison des Artistes Danois* in Suresnes, a dilapidated, leaky hovel secured by idealists eager to invigorate Danish art with new and foreign influences. Although the house was intended to be available to other Danish artists as well, Jacobsen remained there until 1955, with the exception of an eight-month stay in Denmark in 1949 (during which he was accompanied by his French artist friends Jean Deyrolle and Jean Dewasne). Jacobsen later described his years in Suresnes as a time of financial and material hardship, yet a period of great artistic fulfillment.

While many of Robert Jacobsen’s contemporaries in the Danish abstract art scene moved in a spontaneous-expressive direction—such as the artists who later formed the CoBrA group—Jacobsen adhered to a more constructivist visual language. For Jacobsen, however, the constructivist approach was a matter of intuition rather than logic or theory. "I carry the theories within me as an experience in my hands." Shortly after arriving in Paris, Jacobsen established contact with Galerie Denise René and a number of artists associated with it, including Victor Vasarely and Serge Poliakoff. In 1950, he held an exhibition of black-painted iron sculptures at the gallery, and the show proved to be something of a breakthrough. Leveraging his French connections, he was one of the initiators of the exhibition *Klar form* (Clear Form); held in Denmark in 1951, it showcased a number of—predominantly French—artists who represented the rigorous, non-figurative style championed by the Denise René circle.

The 1950s marked a period of solid consolidation for Robert Jacobsen. Major, significant exhibitions took place, books and articles were written, and grants were awarded. Jacobsen secured better living and working conditions in Montfermeil, outside Paris. It was also during the 1950s that the "dolls" began to emerge. Initially, they were perceived as a completely new and hidden facet of Jacobsen’s body of work - a popular counterpoint to the sharp, clean-cut silhouettes of his other sculptures. The advent of the dolls and their widespread appreciation meant that, from this point on, Jacobsen’s mode of expression took on a less sharply defined and strictly consistent character. From around 1960, the sculptures became more dynamically composed; the materiality of the medium was allowed to play a greater role, and the contrast between the strictly constructive and the spontaneous or whimsical was increasingly accommodated within a single work—as seen, for instance, in the sculpture *Esbjerg* (1962). The rigorous pursuit of "clear form" gave way to a rawer, more liberated style, with his mode of expression enriched by early, underlying impulses.

In the 1960s, Robert Jacobsen continued to consolidate his position as an artist of significant international renown. In 1961, he moved to the Château de Courtry; in 1962, he was appointed professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich; and in 1966, he shared the international sculpture prize with the French sculptor Étienne Martin at the Venice Biennale. In 1969, weary of life abroad, he returned to Denmark (settling in Egtved), and that same year, he sold his extensive collection of 250 African sculptures to the Municipality of Gladsaxe. However, even after selling the African collection, Robert Jacobsen continued to collect art. Parts of a new, large private collection comprising a wide variety of artworks were exhibited at an antiques fair in Copenhagen in 1980. Thanks to his quick wit and down-to-earth manner, Robert Jacobsen achieved considerable popularity. In the eyes of many, he embodied the very concept of modern art, and he managed—with notable success—to move almost equally at ease within the pages of the illustrated press and in the most exclusive, discerning art circles. Robert Jacobsen’s appetite for public attention was eagerly satisfied by the media.

Robert Jacobsen’s presence in the public consciousness took on a contentious character when, in 1976, he was appointed professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts’ School of Mural and Spatial Art, contrary to the recommendation of the academic council. The appointment was pushed through by Minister of Culture Niels Matthiasen; it sparked heated debate in the news media and briefly intensified divisions within the art world. Despite simultaneously holding two professorships, Jacobsen produced a great number of new works, particularly colored drawings and graphic art; his interest in art on paper reached an unprecedented scale during these years. Robert Jacobsen’s exhibition activity was extensive. As early as the late 1940s, he participated in exhibitions alongside renowned French artists. He exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1955 and 1960; in 1958, he showed work alongside Serge Poliakoff at the Kunsthalle in Bern, at the "50 Years of Modern Art" exhibition at the Brussels World's Fair, and at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh. That same year, he exhibited with Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, and others at the Musée de l'Art Wallon in Liège. In 1959, he exhibited at Documenta II in Kassel, among other venues; in subsequent years, he showed work in Malmö and Stockholm; in 1962 at the Kootz Gallery in New York; in 1963 at Galerie d'Eendt in Amsterdam; and in 1965 at Galerie Stangl in Munich and the *International Sculpture* exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In 1966, he exhibited at the Venice Biennale; an exhibition at Galerie Chalette in New York toured the United States; the 1967 Biennale exhibition was shown in Bergen and Oslo; and he exhibited at the cultural center in Toulouse, among other locations.

Robert Jacobsen is also extensively represented in museums; his work can be found in most Danish and Scandinavian art museums, as well as at the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris, Musée d'Art Wallon in Liège, Musée d'Ixelles, Gemeente Museum in The Hague, the museum in Schiedam, Musée des Beaux-Arts in Paris, La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland), Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts in Vienna, Musée des Beaux-Arts in Grenoble, Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), Museo de Arte Moderna in São Paulo, Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller (Netherlands), Musée Rodin in Paris, and others. Robert Jacobsen created decorative works for several public and private institutions, including the Technical University of Denmark in Lundtofte, TV-Byen in Gladsaxe (two works), and the county administration building in Roskilde. Notable among his later monumental works are the 11-meter-high sculpture *Venskab* (Friendship, 1986)—originally located near Beijing—and the sculpture *De syv Axler* (The Seven Axles, 1987), made of steel, brass, and granite, for Axeltorv in Copenhagen. In a former gravel pit in Tørskind near Egtved, Robert Jacobsen established a sculpture park in collaboration with the French sculptor Jean Clareboudt. The sculptures—four of which were created by Jacobsen—engage in a dialogue with nature and change appearance with the movement of the sun. The sculpture park was inaugurated in 1991. As one of his final commissions, Robert Jacobsen created a total of 17 figurative elements for Hjerting Church (1992), distributed across the altar wall. The material consists of scrap metal—discarded iron from the Port of Esbjerg—with touches of gilding. He also created two glass mosaics and the baptismal font for the church. Robert Jacobsen created the statuette presented at the Robert Film Awards—hence the name of the award, which was first presented in 1984.

Robert Jacobsen continued as a professor in Munich until 1982 and at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen until 1983. From 1977 to 1981, he was a member of the board of the Danish Arts Foundation. Robert Jacobsen received numerous awards and honors, including the *Politiken* Artist Prize, the Thorvaldsen Medal (1967), the Honorary Craftsman Award, the Prince Eugen Medal (1974), the LO Culture Prize (1983), and the French *Ordre des Arts et des Lettres* (1987). In 1950, Mogens Kruse shot the experimental film *Realitet A* about Robert Jacobsen’s sculptures; in 1965, H. Weldon made a film about Robert Jacobsen that was broadcast on the BBC; and in 1974, the Danish Film Institute released a film about Robert Jacobsen by Hans Henrik Jørgensen and Ebbe Preisler.