Magazine

05 july 2024, Flor Linckens

Jacqueline de Jong: “I think, at this moment in particular, we need to be reminded to be disobedient.”

Artist Jacqueline de Jong in the Stedelijk Museum during her exhibition 'Pinball Wizard', 2019. © Michel Beskers

On 29 June 2024, Jacqueline de Jong passed away. She was an artist and activist renowned for her influential and versatile career spanning over sixty years. She was known for defying categorisation and stereotypes, her work and personality characterised by a rebellious humor and stubbornness. In 2017, she told Frieze, "I think we need to be reminded right now to be disobedient."

Jacqueline de Jong was born on 3 February 1939 in Hengelo, the Netherlands. She grew up in a Jewish family that collected contemporary art. During World War II, De Jong went into hiding in Switzerland with her mother. At eighteen, she moved to Paris, where she studied French and Drama while working in the boutique of Christian Dior. Although she initially had acting ambitions and briefly studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, she ultimately found her calling in the visual arts. In 1958, she took a job at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, where her love for art blossomed. It was also where she discovered the CoBrA movement. A significant figure in De Jong's life and career was the Danish artist Asger Jorn, one of the founders of the movement. De Jong met Jorn in 1959, and they soon began a personal and professional relationship that would last more than a decade. Jorn introduced her to the European avant-garde and influenced her early work.

Jacqueline de Jong, La Guardia Pisse Pendant la Collision, 1965, Dürst Britt & Mayhew

De Jong's career was marked by her involvement with the avant-garde movements of the 1960s, particularly the Situationist International (SI). This leftist movement, led by Guy Debord, was highly critical of capitalism and consumer society. De Jong joined the SI in 1960 but was expelled in 1962 due to her support of the German section, Gruppe SPUR. Debord, known for his strict and exclusive stance, expelled De Jong along with other artists from the group. In response, De Jong founded The Situationist Times, an experimental magazine that published six issues from 1962 to 1967. The magazine was known for its multidisciplinary approach and visual richness. It provided a platform for artists, writers and thinkers to share their ideas, while experimenting with new forms of expression. De Jong's editorial and publishing work exemplified her determination to persevere despite setbacks and to stay true to her artistic and ideological vision. The artist was also involved in the Paris student protests of 1968. A few years later, she returned to Amsterdam. Her work would always remain radical.

De Jong's work is characterised by an exciting mix of current events, social engagement, eroticism, banality, violence and irony. Her artistic oeuvre includes paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints, jewelry (wearable sculptures) and artist books. She was constantly experimenting with various materials and styles: from expressionism to pop art, yet always executed the works in her unique voice. She was occasionally annoyed when people interpreted her work as autobiographical or solely viewed it through her identity as a woman.

Jacqueline de Jong, Sleep in Oblivia, 2023, Dürst Britt & Mayhew

De Jong often used her practice to address political and social issues from the news, from the war in Lebanon in the 1980s to the current wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Her early works, such as the 'Accidental Paintings' and 'Suicidal Paintings,' combined violence with humour, while later works more explicitly addressed themes like war and sexual desire. Additionally, the artist was inspired by a much more humble subject: the potato. One of these installations featuring gilded potatoes was displayed last year in the Tuileries in Paris as part of the official Paris+ par Art Basel program. In 2019, her work was showcased in a large-scale solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum, and in 2012, Moderna Museet in Stockholm presented a solo exhibition of her work.

In her later years, Jacqueline de Jong divided her time between Amsterdam and Bourbonnais in France. Her work has been included in the collections of Centre Pompidou, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, Kunstmuseum Göteborg, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam and Moderna Museet in Stockholm. In 2011, her archive was acquired by the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University. In 2019, De Jong received the AWARE Prize for Women Artists, a lifetime achievement award for her exceptional career, and in early 2023, she was named Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French ambassador to the Netherlands.

Jacqueline de Jong nadat ze net is benoemd tot Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Photo: Dürst Britt & Mayhew.

Jacqueline de Jong was 85 years old. In the Netherlands, the artist is represented by Dürst Britt & Mayhew. Later this year, her work will be featured in a solo exhibition at the NSU Art Museum in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Flor Linckens

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05 july 2024, Flor Linckens

Jacqueline de Jong: “I think, at this moment in particular, we need to be reminded to be disobedient.”

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