In the aftermath of W.W. II, when cities were still deep in rubble, a group of artists headed by Karel Appel, Corneille, Christian Dotremont, Asger Jorn, and Joseph Noiret launched an international avant-garde movement. “We wanted to start afresh,” Appel wrote, “like a child.” On November 8, 1948, the group met in Paris at the Café Notre-Dame and signed a manifesto called “The Case Was Settled.” Freedom and vitality were to be paramount; Surrealism and abstraction were out; experiment, folk influences, and Marxism were in. The group was only active for three years, dissolving in 1951, but artists of all types joined its ranks. Celebrating the 75th anniversary of Cobra’s founding, this exhibition presents works by members of the movement and those they influenced. —Elena Clavarino