Hyfler/Rosner
2004-05-18 13:14:11 UTC
AP
Joergen Nash, a provocative artist who claimed he was the
vandal who shocked the world by beheading the famed Little
Mermaid statue overlooking Copenhagen's harbor, has died. He
was 84.
Nash died in the Danish capital Monday, but his family did
not reveal the cause of his death.
The artist claimed that he beheaded the girl-sized bronze
sculpture of the pining lover with a hacksaw under the cover
of darkness on April 12, 1963, and tossed the head into a
Copenhagen lake.
The self-proclaimed "mermaid killer" never said why he did
it and was never arrested.
Danish newspapers, however, have claimed the real culprit
was late painter Henrik Bruun, who was protesting against
established art. Bruun never said if he did it or not.
Police never arrested anyone for damaging the statue, which
was erected in 1913 in honor of Hans Christian Andersen, who
wrote the fairy tale about her.
Since then, the statue has been splashed with paint, damaged
by explosives and even had its head cut off again in 1998.
Nash's art was renowned for disrupting the common place and
for drawing attention to the artist.
In the 1960s, Nash and fellow eccentric artist Jens Joergen
Thorsen interrupted parliament by blowing on tin whistles.
During a meeting of the Danish Literature Academy, they
unleashed fewer than a dozen of white mice. They tossed
firecrackers on stage during a performance of "Madame
Butterfly" at the Copenhagen Royal Theater.
He also wrote 42 books.
Born Joergen Joergensen, Nash said he changed his last name
to distance himself from his brother, painter Asger Jorn,
who founded the COBRA group with Eigill Jacobsen, Christian
Dotremont of Belgium and Karel Appel of the Netherlands. The
acronym stands for Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam.
Nash, who in 1963 became an honorary member of the Royal
Danish Academy of Fine Art, is survived by his third wife,
Danish painter Lis Zwick; six children; and 14
grandchildren.
Joergen Nash, a provocative artist who claimed he was the
vandal who shocked the world by beheading the famed Little
Mermaid statue overlooking Copenhagen's harbor, has died. He
was 84.
Nash died in the Danish capital Monday, but his family did
not reveal the cause of his death.
The artist claimed that he beheaded the girl-sized bronze
sculpture of the pining lover with a hacksaw under the cover
of darkness on April 12, 1963, and tossed the head into a
Copenhagen lake.
The self-proclaimed "mermaid killer" never said why he did
it and was never arrested.
Danish newspapers, however, have claimed the real culprit
was late painter Henrik Bruun, who was protesting against
established art. Bruun never said if he did it or not.
Police never arrested anyone for damaging the statue, which
was erected in 1913 in honor of Hans Christian Andersen, who
wrote the fairy tale about her.
Since then, the statue has been splashed with paint, damaged
by explosives and even had its head cut off again in 1998.
Nash's art was renowned for disrupting the common place and
for drawing attention to the artist.
In the 1960s, Nash and fellow eccentric artist Jens Joergen
Thorsen interrupted parliament by blowing on tin whistles.
During a meeting of the Danish Literature Academy, they
unleashed fewer than a dozen of white mice. They tossed
firecrackers on stage during a performance of "Madame
Butterfly" at the Copenhagen Royal Theater.
He also wrote 42 books.
Born Joergen Joergensen, Nash said he changed his last name
to distance himself from his brother, painter Asger Jorn,
who founded the COBRA group with Eigill Jacobsen, Christian
Dotremont of Belgium and Karel Appel of the Netherlands. The
acronym stands for Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam.
Nash, who in 1963 became an honorary member of the Royal
Danish Academy of Fine Art, is survived by his third wife,
Danish painter Lis Zwick; six children; and 14
grandchildren.
