Modern Art & Design presents Arne Jones – A Collection
Arne Jones
“I saw, when we worked together, how Jones handled the pieces and dealt with them. There was never anything of the seasoned craftsman’s routine ownership in the movements of his hands. Rather, he appeared questioning and reflective, as though they were searching for the causes behind the resistance of the material and the situation as a whole. It is when he touches his working material that he dances.”
These are the words of Olle Granath and they characterise Arne Jones’ creative process well.
After the end of the Second World War, a generational shift took place within Swedish culture, and Arne Jones would go on to become a leading figure in sculpture. He was one of the members of the artist group later referred to as “The Men of 1947” – a group of artists who, often using a concrete visual language in their works, had an agenda to bring contemporary art into public spaces.
Arne Jones challenged the classical, solid sculpture form and instead explored spatiality, emptiness, and weightlessness in his works. The result, during the 1940s and 50s, was delicate, floating creations that seemed to strive upward. Throughout most of his artistic career, Jones worked thematically, exploring different forms in series with names such as In and Out, Pirouette, Triad, Distances – Closeness, among others
During the 1970s, he worked on the Yin-Yang series, which Rolf Söderberg describes as follows:
“Within Jones’ thematic concept Shifts of Closeness, several works are included, among them the torso series YIN-YANG, created between 1965 and 1970. Yin-Yang is the Chinese symbol for dualism. We all recognise this compact and suggestive symbol representing unity versus division, black versus white, light versus shadow. [...] YIN-YANG consists of constructions made of prefabricated metal rods stacked symmetrically but shifted in a spiral rhythm towards height. It was, once again, a matter of ‘bending the technocratic towards the human.”
Arne Jones’ importance to modern sculpture and to subsequent generations of artists cannot be overstated. Olle Granath aptly captures Jones’ distinctive visual language: “There are many sculptures from Arne Jones’ time that on the surface resemble what he created. Among that number, he is always distinguishable. There is a style, a tone, a connection with history that makes it impossible to mistake his work for someone else’s.”
Alongside this section, additional items from this collection are being sold in the themed online auction F662 Arne Jones, from May 14–22, with a viewing at Berzelii Park from May 14–19.
Venice Biennale 1968 – Yin-Yang
While serving as Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Institute of Art (1961–1971), Arne Jones received a long-awaited invitation to represent Sweden, alongside Sivert Lindblom, at the 1968 Venice Biennale. He hoped this would be the international breakthrough he had long wished for.
Jones chose to bring three mobile works from a series he titled Meditative Objects. However, at the same time, student uprisings flared in Paris – the so-called "Sorbonne Revolution". The protesters viewed the Biennale as an extension of the commercial art market, and the demonstrations became so violent that police protection was required. Among other consequences, the Nordic Pavilion was never opened. A year of work and preparation ended in trauma, with Jones’ sculptures vandalised and covered in black mourning plastic. The dream that was meant to be realised was left in ruins.
Sculptures from the Yin-Yang series (1965–1970), made from prefabricated metal rods, were part of the planned Biennale exhibition. Monumental works from this series, in various versions and scales, are today installed in places such as Borås, Torshälla, Värnamo, and at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg.
The collection will be sold at Modern Art & Design
Viewing: May 14–19, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm
Open May 14 12 PM–6 PM, weekdays 11 AM–6 PM, weekends 11 AM–4 PM
Live auction: May 20–21, Arsenalsgatan 2, Stockholm
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All works by Arne Jones på Modern Art & Design
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