COBRA was formed by Karel Appel, Constant, Corneille, Christian Dotremont, Asger Jorn, and Joseph Noiret on the 8th November 1948 in the Café Notre-Dame, Paris[1], with the signing of a manifesto, 'La Cause Était Entendue’ (The Case was Heard), drawn up by Dotremont. Formed with a unifying doctrine of complete freedom of colour and form, as well as antipathy towards surrealism, the artists also shared an interest in Marxism as well as modernism.
Their working method was based on spontaneity and experiment, and they drew their inspiration in particular from children’s drawings, from primitive art forms and from the work of Paul Klee and Joan Miró.[1]
Coming together as an amalgamation of the Dutch group Reflex, the Danish group Høst and the Belgian Revolutionary Surrealist Group, the group only lasted a few years but managed to achieve a number of objectives in that time; the periodical Cobra, a series of collaborations between various members called Peintures-Mot and two large-scale exhibitions. The first of these was held at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, November (1949), the other at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Liège (1951).
In November 1949 the group officially changed its name to 'Internationale des Artistes Expérimentaux' with membership having spread across Europe and the USA, although this name has never stuck. The movement was officially disbanded in 1951, but many of its members remained close, with Dotremont in particular continuing collaborations with many of the leading members of the group[2].
The primary focus of the group consisted of semi-abstract paintings with brilliant color, violent brushwork, and distorted human figures inspired by primitive and folk art and similar to American action painting. Cobra was a milestone in the development of Tachisme and European abstract expressionism.
[edit] Participants
Prominent participants in COBRA included:
Karel Appel (1921-2006)
Corneille (born 1922)
Pierre Alechinsky (born 1927)
Else Alfelt (1910-1974)
Jean-Michel Atlan (1913-1960)
Ejler Bille (1910-2004)
Pol Bury (1922-2005)
Jacques Calonne (born 1930)
Hugo Claus (1929-2008)
Lotti van der Gaag (1923-1999)
William Gear (1915-1997)
Stephen Gilbert (1910-2007)
Svavar Guðnason (1909-1988)
Henry Heerup (1907-1993)
Edouard Jaguer (1924-2006)
Aart Kemink (1914-2006)
Lucebert (1924-1994)
Ernest Mancoba (1904-2002)
Jørgen Nash (1920-2004)
Jan Nieuwenhuys (1922-1986)
Erik Ortvad (1917-2008)
Pieter Ouborg (1893-1956)
Carl-Henning Pedersen (1913-2007)
Raoul Ubac (1910-1985)
Serge Vandercam (1924-2005)
[edit] Related artists
Artists who had contact with COBRA, and were influenced by them:
Jerome Bech
Vali Myers
John Olsen (artist)
Shinkichi Tajiri
Alasdair Taylor
Robert Jacobsen
Enrico Baj
[edit] Legacy
