Cobra. Una grande avanguardia europea 1948-1951

CoBrA was the first major avant-garde movement with an international reach in the postwar period. The group was officially born on the initiative of Asger Jorn, Constant and the writer Christian Dotremont, together with Jacques Noiret, Corneille and Karel Appel on 8 November 1948 at the Café Notre Dame in Paris. Though only active until 1951, the movement’s influence rapidly spread throughout Europe. The striking acronym “CoBrA” is composed of the initial letters of the capital cities from which the artists hailed, namely Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam.
Now, for the first time, a major exhibition devoted to the entire CoBrA group is being staged in Italy. Through a wide-ranging and discerning selection of artworks – paintings, sculptures, works on paper – as well as publications, documents and videos, the exhibition covers the group’s multifaceted activity, the European connections and ramifications, and the evolution in the following decades of the researches conducted by the individual members, especially the leading exponents.