JORN. ASGER. [Troels Jorn] Livre de Troels Jorn. n.p.: Les Amis d’Asger Jorn / Edition privee hors commerce, 2020. n.p. [32 p.]; ill.; 32 x 18 cm.; ill. covers with text in black. 4-page presentation brochure (14 x 21 cm.) and bookmark (18 x 4.5 cm.) laid-in
First French language translation of a book composed by Jorn for his youngest son, Troels, in 1949. Troels was only four years old at the time, and Jorn was separating from Kirsten Lyngborg – his wife, former student, and mother of his three children. The artist considered the book too personal, and chose not to publish it in his lifetime. In 1981 – Eight years after Jorn’s passing – a first facsimile edition was released by the Silkeborg Kunstmuseum (now known as the Jorn Museum). The original Danish edition was reprinted a few times, and the book has been translated into both German (in 2016) and English (in 2017).
The book tells the story of encounters between two animals. First, a lion tries (and fails) to eat a giraffe, then a pig, then an elephant. The starving lion ultimately gets help from the Aganaks – small, fantastical creatures imagined by Jorn.
