Ann Lundén Jacoby

Billedskolen 2003

By Bjørn Bråten, Director, Billedskolen, Copenhagen:
Preface to an exhibition catalogue:

Ann Jacoby has come to painting through her sense and way of life—a strenuous and lengthy way. She paints landscapes and figurative paintings out of a deep, inner necessity. More by instinct than by calculation, she has made her motifs ever more precise and learnt to view them from new angles. Through her work with the paintings, she has uncovered the originality of her mind. Her paintings are filled with intensity and sincereness. She simply paints the world as perceived. Only very few people would be tempted to say that Ann Jacoby’s paintings are realistic, yet she never loses her grip in the surrounding reality. Like the Asians, she is not satisfied with observing phenomena or with looking at them from the outside: she opens up to the energies of life and lets them flow through her mind. Like everyone else, she fights her missing knowledge and abilities; still, her paintings are supported by an authentic assurance that, fundamentally, life is priceless. She nourishes a valuable feature, deeply rooted in her character, namely a spiritual modesty and a fear to transcend the borders of her nature. To establish her artistic horoscope is of course impossible. Yet I know this much about Ann Jacoby: she will listen to the faintest sensations of her mind and she will keep working on developing her talent.