“Everybody must participate in everything” – Cross-Aesthetic Practices in and around the Danish Magazine linien (1934–1939)
In: A Cultural History of the Avant-Garde in the Nordic Countries 1925-1950Search for other papers by Marianne Ølholm in
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Abstract
The Danish magazine linien was launched in 1934 by a group of abstract–surrealist artists in connection with the first exhibitions of their works. Although the initiative came from a group of young painters and sculptors, the magazine also included other art forms, and the first volume contains literary contributions from two of the more well-known Danish surrealist influenced poets of the period, Gustaf Munch-Petersen and Jens August Schade. The editorial argues for the need to form a united cultural front, and art is seen not as an isolated phenomenon but as part of a general and revolutionary development associated with “modern times”. This blurring of the distinction between particular artistic practices and efforts within other cultural and non-cultural fields can be perceived as an avant-garde endeavour to integrate art and life. This essay examines how the literary contributions to the magazine interact with other art forms and more particularly the extent to which surrealism was a recognisable influence in the examples of Danish poetry from the interwar period.