French connections Soft and dripping paint in Cobra and Art Autre (1949- 1972)

This dissertation examines manifestation of soft and dripping paint in 23 paintings, made in the period between 1946 and 1972 by Asger Jorn, Karel Appel and four other artists who were all at one time were associated with either the Cobra movement or the Art Autre artistic trend.
The aim of the thesis is to improve the understanding of condition problems in modern paintings containing soft and dripping paint and to apprehend the reasons why these occur. In this process, conceived ideas about the making of these modern paintings and the relation with the problems are challenged:
i) The conceived idea of so-called good and bad materials.
ii) The lack of schooling and understanding of the materials and their application.
iii) The economically difficult conditions that directly affected the quality and durability of the works the artists produced.
The investigations described in the thesis show that problems of soft and dripping paints all occur when artists are in Paris under relatively positive financial circumstances, utilizing different French paint brands such as Lefranc, Lefranc-Bourgeois, Lefevbre-Foinet and Adam Montparnasse. These and other new insights into the artists’ practices urges the re-interpretation or re-evaluation of the art historical literature for Asger Jorn’s and Karel Appel’s art in particular.