By Jens Tang Kristensen
At the Forefront sheds light on the history of the previously marginalized Danish avant-garde art group Linien II, from its founding in 1947 to its dissolution in 1952 – as well as its continued afterlife right up to the present day.
The book focuses on both the group's artistic and political work, thereby situating the group within a broader art and cultural-historical perspective. As a monograph, it is the first book of its kind, since Linien II, unlike Cobra, for example, has never before been described in depth. This is a paradox, as Linien II had strong connections to many prominent artists outside Denmark, including Josef Albers, Jean Arp, Le Corbusier, Hans Hartung, and Alberto Giacometti, and Linien II also established exhibitions in the USA and England during its own epochal contemporary period, which Cobra, for example, never achieved.
With this monumental monograph, which particularly unfolds the social and political potential of art in detail, new and previously unknown aspects have finally been added to both the history of Linien II specifically, and to Danish post-war art in general.
The book is richly illustrated in colour.
