Audio file 152-1

they speak of the Danish avant garde focusing on their own heritage during World War II; Wonga opines they were looking for "the origin", Ernest adds a "universalism"

During World War II, the Danish artists were isolated in their country and turned to heritage of the Vikings and Norsk mythology for inspiration

Wonga states that there is a difference in the understanding of "the primitive" by those who want to understand the people, like Carl Kjersmeier, and those who only want to access the form, like the Danish artists; they criticise Picasso for using styles and that artists need to go deeper "to be true"

[tape stopped and restarted] Wonga returns to Høst artists, that in 1945 they expressed their direction towards the instinctive and spontaneous; Wonga refers to Ole Sarvag, Ejler Bille, Asger Jorn

Høst was an artist association originally of landscape artists. During World War II, they offered a platform for other artists including the young Danish avant-garde. The association ended in 1949. Ernest and Sonja participated in Høst's annual exhibition in 1948 (as guests) and 1949 (as members)

[tape stopped and restarted] Ernest wants to speak of Karl Marx and Christianity and common humanity; referring to Freud, Ernest speaks of humans and wishful thinking, of art having become about making pleasant things, whereas in primitive societies, art related to society

Wonga argues artists cannot re-establish a moral order; Ernest refers to Kjersmeier's donation of his priceless collection to the Danish public collection

Wonga returns to collecting his thoughts on the Danish avant-garde during the war, speaking on multiple aspects: mentioning Ole Sarvig, Axel Johansen, Jan Zibrandtsen and the Venice Biennale 1948; [the tape stops and restarts multiple times as he switches between subjects]

Wonga mentions the beginning of the Hard Edge group, naming Richard Mortensen, Robert Jacobsen (references Kandinsky, Malevich, Mondrian), that their sectarian approach would mean disavowing artists like Van Gogh

"Hard Edge" describes abstract art where areas of colours are separated by clear sharp ("hard") edges as a formal representation of rationality. The Danish avant-garde became divided between following "Hard Edge" or taking a spontaneous path to art

Wonga states that Ferlov Mancoba and Ernest rejected the separation, which led to disagreements between Ferlov Mancoba and certain CoBrA artists and certain Linien II artists; Wonga concludes that the separation inevitably led to the break ups of the associations

Whilst the art associations worked with artists across both schools of "Hard Edge" and the spontaneous, in general Linien II showed "Hard Edge" artists and Høst, the more spontaneous artists. Ernest and Wonga also use "Cobra" to describe this latter group.

Wonga also wants to mention the positive aspects such as developments of artists individually leading to artistic invention (mentions Richard Winther of Linien II); Wonga speaks of Winther "aggressive" towards the CoBrA artists, and wanting Ferlov Mancoba to join them - how she came to exhibit with Linien II even as she was exhibiting with Høst in 1948

In 1948, Sonja Ferlov Mancoba in exhibiting with both Linien II and Høst could be said to be exhibiting with both art camps across the divide of rationality and spontaneity.

[tape ends, continues 152-2]