Alfred Jensen

Sid Deutch Gallery, New York
Collection of Dr. Peter B. Fischer
Steve Banks Fine Arts, San Fransisco
Acquired by the present owner from the above

New York, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, The First Decade, May-August 2000, p.69, illustrated

This work is in very good condition overall; there is scattered surface soiling; there is fine and stable cracquelure scattered throughout; there is paint loss to the left edge. Framed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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"This idea that things resonate with or energize each other has guided me in producing my paintings."   Alfred Jensen (Quoted by Maria Reidelbach in Alfred Jensen: Paintings and Works on Paper, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, 1985, p. 9)  

A true intellectual, Alfred Jensen was informed by sources as diverse as the Mayan calendar, the I Ching, the Pythagorean Theorem and Goethe's theory of subjective color phenomena, Zür Farbenlehre.  His pictorial systems meticulously correlate diverse elements of competing belief systems, using an intricate structure of symbols to articulate his extraordinary vision.  The elaborate patterning and lush juxtapositions of color that result are a manifestation of his extremely personal artistic exploration of universal truth and the nature of existence.  

Central to his work is duality and the investigation of color, which he conceived as the primal struggle between black and white.  The transition from black to white within the prism suggested to Jensen the image of the checkerboard, "the alternating rhythms in light and darkness". (Alfred Jensen: Paintings and Diagrams from the Years 1957-1977, Linda L. Cathcart, Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1978, p. 7)  Similarly, the circular wave shapes in which light travels are mirrored by corresponding waves in the darkness therefore, for Jensen, "there is no void". (ibid) 

Jensen's work defies categorization.  His lifelong acquisition of knowledge and his ceaseless efforts to integrate mankind's greatest ideas into a single, unified structure expressed through the medium of painting led to the creation of a multilayered body of work that is not only visually stunning but probes the depths of human experience.