Hos CoBrA-kunstnerne ses abstrakte ekspressive udtryk, der kan indeholde genkendelige elementer.

samt/and Lee Krasner & Helen Frankenthaler

Bille, Ejler

Jacobsen, Egill

Appel, Karel

Appel, Karel (1921-2006). Born i Amsterdam, the Netherlands, died in Zurich, Switzerland. Dutch abstract expressionist painter, graphic designer, illustrator, sculptor and ceramic artist. Trained at the "Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten" in Amsterdam, 1940-43. His first solo exhibition was held in 1946 at Beerenhuis in Groningen. 
Appel was influenced by Picasso, Matisse and later Jean Dubuffet. He was a member of "Nederlandse Experimentele Groep", the authors, editors, and publishers of the journal Reflex. He was one of the founders of the CoBrA movement and put his signature to the manifesto in Paris in 1948 together with e.g. Constant and Corneille. In 1949 he completed a fresco for the restaurant of the city hall of Amsterdam, which generated great polemic and was covered up the next 10 years. He moved to Paris in 1950, where the writer Hugo Claus introduced him to Michel Tapié, the organizer of many exhibitions including exhibitions of Appel's works. In 1954 he received the UNESCO Prize at the Venice Biennale and was commisioned to execute a mural for the restaurant at the Stedelijk Museum in 1956. The following year he traveled to Mexico and the USA and won a graphic prize at the Ljubljana Biennial in Yugoslavia (now The Republic of Slovenia). In the late 60s he moved to the Château de Molesmes southeast of Paris. During the 50s and 60s he executed a great number of murals for official buildings. In 1972 he traveled in South America, Mexico, India, Nepal, Indonesia and Japan. In 1974 he tested various materials such as plastic foam.
In 1976 a collaboration with Pierre Alechinsky led to a series of works on paper which were published along with poems by Hugo Claus in the book entitled "Two Brush Paintings". In the 80s Appel executed a series of stained glass paintings. In 1987, after many years of exploring nudity in painting and drawings, Appel worked with live models, instead of deriving his forms from the fantasy.
His third period of sculptural production began in the early 90s where architecture, painting and sculpture were combined, the result was a total work of art or Gesamtkunstwerk (a Baroque-term).
Together with the Japanese dancer and choreographer Min Tanaka Appel had created scenic concepts for opera performances in France and the Netherlands e.g. Mozart's "The Magic Flute".
From 1997 Appel lived by turns in Toscana, Italy, where he painted landscapes, and in the US continuing his work with sculptures.
His works has been exhibited in all major museums of modern art in the world. In 2004 he solo-exhibited at Herning Museum of Art, Denmark.

Nieuwenhuys, Anton Constant called Constant (1920-2005). Dutch artist and writer, born and educated in Amsterdam - a two-semester student at Kunstnijverheidschool and from 1939-42 he was studying at the State Academy of Fine Arts. He was influenced by Cézanne, the cubists and the expressionists and was co-founder of the CoBrA movement. Constant was intensely concerned about the relation between art/society and his project "The New Babylon" (1956-1974) - ideas for new values and ways of thinking and living - creativity should be the human mission. Constant's proposal for urban planning showed sketches and models of houses which could be prolonged indefinitely as the Tower of Babel (the gate of God), whose top should reach unto heaven.

Alechinsky, Pierre

Alechinsky, Pierre (1927). Born in Brussels to a Russian father and a Belgian mother. Alechinsky paints with his left hand "the one that has known only liberty and pleasure", he was left-handed by nature but was as pupil forced to write with his right hand and allowed to draw with his left because drawing was considered to be less important than writing. In the period 1944-46 he studied book illustration and graphic techniques at "l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et des Arts Décoratifs" in Brussels. In 1947 he became member of a group of Avant-Garde Artists "La Jeune Peinture Belge", formed on the initiative of Robert L. Delevoy, an art critic, and René Lust, a lawyer - promoting young contemporary artists through exhibitions, this was their intention. The same year Alechinsky had his first solo-exhibition in Brussels at "Galerie Lou Cosyn". He was one of the founders and the youngest member of the CoBrA movement. With a number of colleagues he set up a type of research centre and meeting-place in Brussels - "Les Ateliers du Marais". He was also active in the CoBrA publications. CoBrA dissolved in 1951, Alechinsky moved to Paris. In 1955 he went to Japan to study the art of calligraphy, and adopted the Oriental manner of painting - paper spread on the floor and the artist leans over the work holding the bottle of ink. In 1956 he made the film "Calligraphie japonaise". Alechinsky participated in international festivals, such as: The VII Sao Paulo Biennale, 1963, The Venice Biennale, 1967 and 1972, received the award for engraving at the Krakow Biennale, 1967. Alechinsky on stamps.

Heerups billeder, ofte i stort format, er inspireret af romansk og primitiv kunst og er fortælling og fantasi. Hans skulpturer af mennesker, dyr og nogle i abstrakte former er hugget i sten, marmor eller granit, og kan være malet med kraftige farver. Heerups Skraldeskulpturer (assemblager) er skulpturer bygget af gammelt skrammel f.eks. hans skraldemodel af "Kristus med tornekrone", 1944, hvor kroppen er lavet af træklodser, et håndtag er korset og tornekronen er lavet af ståltråd, der er flettet sammen.

Heerup modtog flere medaljer, bl.a. Eckersberg medaljen i 1958 og Thorvaldsens Medalje i 1967, og hans værker har været repræsenteret på bl.a. Biennalen i Venedig i 1962, og på Verdensudstillingen i New York i 1964.

Udvalgte arbejder: "Ung kvinde med barn" (Vanløse Madonna), 1934, Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg. Skulpturer til Tivolis legeplads, 1958. Vægudsmykning til Løjtegårdsskolen i Tårnby, 1964. Radiumstationen i København, 1965. Vesterbro Ungdomsgård, 1966. 10 kampestensdyr fra 1969 som står ved Køge Bugt Strandpark. Heerup på frimærker.

Vandercam, Serge

Vandercam, Serge (1924-2005). Belgisk kunstner født i København. Vandercam begyndte sin kunstneriske karriere som fotograf, han eksperimentere med fotografiet, og opdagede den abstrakte billedverden, de mest almindelige genstande og omgivelser fik ukendte komplekse former og en magisk kraft. I 1949 i CoBrAhuis i Rue de Marais i Bruxelles, CoBrA-gruppens hovedkvarter, mødte han Dotremont og Alechinsky og andre unge kunstnere, der søgte nye veje i udtryk og form. Vandercam var som maler autodidakt, hans første billeder var ekspressive farvekompositioner, senere blev hans arbejder mere lyriske. Emnet i hans billeder var en tragisk historie om en fugl, der forsøgte at stige op som fugl Føniks, men som tyngdekraften bandt til jorden. Vandercam deltog i 1949 i alle CoBrAgruppens aktiviteter og var fotograf for CoBrAhuis. Fra 1961-63 boede han i Albisola i Italien, hvor han, sammen med Asger Jorn, udførte keramiske arbejder og etablerede venskaber med Wilfredo Lam, Fontane, Manzoni og billedhuggeren Fabbri. I 1962 var Vandercam på en rejse til Danmark, hvor han i Silkeborg Museums arkæologiske samling så og blev fascineret af Tollundmanden, der blev et gennemgående tema i hans arbejder - (Tollundmanden 350 f.Kr., blev fundet i 1950). I 1979 udførte Vandercam installationen "La fleur unique ou les oiseaux émerveillés" til metrostationen Josephine-Charlotte i Bruxelles.
I 1986 blev der holdt en retrospektiv udstilling af Vandercams arbejder på Musée communal des Beaux-Arts d'Ixelles (Bruxelles), og 1991 blev afholdt en retrospektiv fotoudstilling i Bruxelles "Espace Photographique Contretype" med hans eksperimentelle fotografier. I 1994 designede Vandercam frimærket "My Beautiful One" for det nationale belgiske postvæsen ("De Post-La Poste"). I 1995 blev han medlem af Belgiens kongelige akademi for videnskab, litteratur og de skønne kunster (L'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique), og i 1997 blev Vandercam præsident for Belgiens kongelige akademi. I 1995 afholdtes en seperatudstilling på The CoBrA Fine Art Gallery, San Francisco. I 1998 udstillede Vandercam CoBrAfotografier på Musée de la photographie à Charleroi i Belgien. I anledning af hans 75-års fødselsdag afholdtes i 1999 en retrospektiv udstilling på Museet for moderne kunst "PMMK", (Provinciaal Museum voor Moderne Kunst), Oostende.
Blandt mange af Vandercams priser var: førsteprisen på "Jeune Peinture Belge" i 1956 og året efter fik han guldmedalje på Triennalen i Milano. I 1958 modtog den belgiske kritikerpris. I 1997 modtog han SABAM Prisen sammen med Bram Bogart for Belgiens bedste kunstnere. SABAM (Société belge des Auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs) er det belgiske selskab for forfattere, komponister og forlæggere, selskabet inkluderer også grafisk kunst.

Vandercam, Serge (1924-2005). Belgian artist, born in Copenhagen. Photographer and self-taught painter. Vandercam began his artistic career as freelance photographer, he experimented with photography and discovered the abstract motifs from his immediate surroundings. In 1949, in Cobrahuis, Rue de Marais in Brussels, the headquarters of CoBrA, he met Dotremont, Alechinsky and other young artists exploring new ways to express their ideas through visual art. Vandercam's early paintings were powerfully expressive compositions, later they became more lyrical. Subject of his paintings was the tragic of a bird trying to rise up like a phoenix, but staying on earth by the laws of gravitation. In 1949 Vandercam took part in all CoBrA activities and he was CoBrAhuis' photographer. From 1961-63 he lived in Albisola in Italy, where he, together with Asger Jorn, executed ceramic works, and he met and made friends with artists such as Wilfredo Lam, Piero Manzoni and the sculptor Angenore Fabbri. In 1962 Vandercam visited Denmark and also the prehistoric collection at Silkeborg Museum, where he saw and became fascinated by the peat bog corpse "The Man from Tollund" (350 BC, found in 1950) which became a recurring subject in his work. In 1979 Vandercam created the art installation "La fleur unique ou les oiseaux émerveillés" for the metro station "Josephine Charlotte" in Brussels. In 1986 a retrospective of his works was held at Musée communal des Beaux-Arts d'Ixelles (Brussels), and in 1991 a retrospective photo exhibition "Espace Photographique Contretype" was showed in Brussels. In 1994 Vandercam designed the stamp "My Beautiful One" for the Belgian Post ("De Post-La Poste"). In 1995 he was selected member of the The Royal Belgian Academy of Science, Literature and Fine Arts (L'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique), and in 1997 he was selected president of the Royal Belgian Academy. In 1995 a solo exhibition of his works was held at The CoBrA Fine Art Gallery, San Francisco, and in 1998 his CoBrA photos was exhibited at Musée de la photographie à Charleroi in Belgium. To commemorate his 75th birthday a retrospective was held at The Museum of Modern Art "PMMK", (Provinciaal Museum voor Moderne Kunst), Oostende.
Vandercam has received many awards for his works including the First price at "Jeune Peinture Belge" in 1956, the following year the gold medal at the Milan Triennial, in 1958 the "Prize of the Belgian Critic" and in 1997 he was awarded the SABAM prize, together with Bram Bogart, for the best Belgian artists - SABAM (Société belge des Auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs) the Belgian Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers, the society also include graphic art.
Thanks to Eugeen Weyn for information about the artist.

Jacobsen, Robert (1912-1993). Danish self-taught sculptor and painter. He was born in Copenhagen, and he died in Tågelund near Egtved in South Jutland. Jacobsen acquired international fame with his black abstract iron sculptures - in some of his paintings the shapes of his sculptures can be recognized on coloured backgrounds - black contours and shapes are characterizing his paintings. About 1930 he executed his first wood sculptor, and in 1935 his first so-called dolls were made - imaginative abstractions made of scrap iron. In the early 1940s he created his fable beings in granite and sandstone. In 1947 he moved to Paris together with Richard Mortensen, at Galeri Denise René they came into contact with other artists such as Arp, Vasarely, Poliakoff and Dewasne, who in 1950 wrote the book "Le gros Robert". Jacobsen began working with iron, it was cheaper and more flexible than stone. 
In the 1960's Jacobsen created his so-called personages and reliefs in wood and metal. In 1966 he represented Denmark at the Venice Biennale, and together with the French sculptor Etienne Martin, he was awarded the sculpture prize. In 1969 he returned to Denmark and settled in Tågelund. In the 1970s he created a number of sculptures (small set designs). Late in life he created monumental sculptures - seem to be syntheses of earlier works. Together with his former student, the French Land Art artist Jean Clareboudt, he executed a sculpture park in Tørskind gravel pit near Egtved - the park was inaugurated in 1991. Jacobsen was a collector of African sculptures, which to him expressed the true creative power. In 1980 he was decorated as a "Knight of the French Legion of Honour".

From 1962-82 he was professor of sculpture at the Munich Academy, and from 1976-83 professor at the The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.

Hornung, Preben

Larsen, Jørn

Marini, Marino

Brancusi, Constantin

Albers, Josef