Bille, Ejler (1910-2004). Danish painter, graphics artist, sculptor and writer. Bille was one of the pioneers of Danish abstract art, and one of the most important artists in the 20th century. He was co-founder of the artistic group "Linien" (the Line), 1934, an artist union working in abstract and surrealistic styles. Later Bille became member of the CoBrA movement. On the whole Bille was self-taught apart from one year of study at the School of Sculpture at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Together with Richard Mortensen he visited Berlin in 1931, where he studied the works of, among others, Kandinsky, the same year he exhibited for the first time at The Autumn Exhibition for Painters in Copenhagen. In the mid 1930s, together with Richard Mortensen and Egill Jacobsen, he introduced abstract art to Denmark. In the 1930s he used abstract-surrealistic forms in his painting and executed organic sculptures. Bille experienced an artistic breakthrough while living in Paris (1938-39), which became of crucial importance to his artistic career, henceforward he mainly worked with paintings and created abstractions existing of a vast number of masks and bird-like beings - a warm shining colouring emphasized the harmonic and poetic characters of the compositions. In 1945 Bille published "Picasso, surrealisme, abstrakt kunst" (Picasso, Surrealism, Abstract Art). In 1960 he received the Eckersbergs Medal, and in 1969 the Thorvaldsen Medal, in 1981 he became honorary member of The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. His works have been shown in several countries and are represented in Denmark at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, North Zealand, The National Gallery in Copenhagen, Holstebro Art Museum, Jutland and KUNSTEN - Museum of Modern Art Aalborg.

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.

Heerup, Henry (1907-1993). Dansk maler, billedhugger, grafiker og bogillustrator blev uddannet på Akademiet fra 1927-32. Han var medlem af kunstnersammenslutningerne CoBrA og Decembristerne.

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.

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.

Brancusi, Constantin (1876-1957). Romanian-French sculptor, French citizen in 1952. He was born in the village Hobita in the Carpathians (The Transylvanian Alps) in Romania. He died in Paris and was buried in the Montparnasse cemetery.
From 1894-98 Brancusi studied at Scoala de Arte si Meserii (school of arts and crafts) in Craiova, and from 1898-1901 he studied at Scoala Natzionala de Arte Frumoase (national academy of fine arts) in Bucharest. In 1904 he moved to Paris, and the following year he began studying at Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In 1906 he exhibited for the first time in Paris at Salon d’Automne, where he met Auguste Rodin. Brancusi made frequent visits to Bucharest, and he often exhibited there. His artist colleagues and friends in Paris were Duchamp, Léger, Matisse, Modigliani, Archipenko and Rousseau. In 1908 he executed his first version of "The Kiss", his works became more abstract, however he never denied the visible world, he transformed its elements into simple forms, e.g. the egg form. In 1913 five of his sculptures were exhibited at the "Armory Show" in New York (an international exhibition of modern art). In 1914 his first solo exhibition was held at gallery "291" in New York. In the early 1920s Brancusi cooperated with the dadaists e.g. Francis Picabia and Tristan Tzara, however he never became a member of the Dadaist group. In 1926 he visited the US twice to keep up to date with his solo exhibitions at Wildenstein Gallery and Brummer Gallery in New York. In 1926 and in 1936 exhibitions of his works were held at MoMA in New York. Brancusi created a series of sculptures called "Bird in Space", and in 1927 Edward Steichen, a Luxembourgian-American Photographer, bought a bird-sculpture and tried to bring it into the US - according to the US customs rules, a work of art could be imported free of duty, however the customs officers classified it as a propeller blade, and judges have to decide whether the "bird" was a sculpture or and industrial object, and in 1928 the Court decided that the "bird" was a works of art. In the 1930s Brancusi traveled to many countries e.g. India and Egypt. In 1935 he was given the task of designing a war monument for a park in Targu Jiu in Romania - the complex included gates and an endless column. After 1939 Brancusi continued to work in Paris.
Brancusi used plaster, marble, wood and various metals - some of his plasterer were cast in bronze or he carved them in marble. The majority of his works are in private collections in France, England, America and India. He has influenced, among others, the abstract-surrealistic artist Isamu Noguchi.
"The Kiss" at the tomb of Tania Rachevskaia, Montparnasse Cemetery, Paris. Brancusi on stamps.