Jean Arp

Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (; ; 16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter and poet. He was known as a Dadaist and an abstract artist.

Early life

Arp was born Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp to a French mother and a German father in Strasbourg during the period between the Franco-Prussian War and World War I, when the city and surrounding region were under the control of the German Empire. Following the return of Alsace to France at the end of World War I, French law required Arp to adopt a French name, and he legally became Jean Arp, although he continued referring to himself as "Hans" when he spoke German.

Career

Dada

In 1904, after leaving the École des Arts et Métiers in Strasbourg, he went to Paris where he published his poetry for the first time. From 1905 to 1907, he studied at the Weimarer Kunstschule in Germany, where he met his uncle, German landscape painter Carl Arp. In 1908 he returned to Paris, where he attended the Académie Julian. Arp was a founder-member of the first modern art alliance in Switzerland Moderne Bund in Lucerne in 1911, participating in their exhibitions from 1911 to 1913.Jean Arp
Museum of Modern Art, New York

In 1912 he went to Munich and called on Wassily Kandinsky, the influential Russian painter and art theorist. Arp was encouraged by him in his researches and exhibited with the Der Blaue Reiter group. Later that year, he took part in a major exhibition in Zürich, along with Henri Matisse, Robert Delaunay, and Kandinsky. In Berlin in 1913, he was taken up by Herwarth Walden, the dealer and magazine editor who was at that time one of the most powerful figures in the European avant-garde.

In 1915 he moved to Switzerland to take advantage of Swiss neutrality. Arp later told the story of how, when he was notified to report to the German consulate in Zürich, Hans Richter", quoted in ''Dada XYZ'', 1948; archived in ''the Dada Painters & Poets: Anthology'' (2nd edition, 1981), edited by Robert Motherwell he pretended to be mentally ill in order to avoid being drafted into the German Army: after crossing himself whenever he saw a portrait of Paul von Hindenburg, Arp was given paperwork on which he was told to write his date of birth on the first blank line. Accordingly, he wrote "16/9/87"; he then wrote "16/9/87" on every other line as well, then drew one final line beneath them and, "without worrying too much about accuracy", calculated their sum.Hans Arp
, by André Breton, in '' Anthology of Black Humor''; originally published 1940 Hans Richter, describing this story, noted that "they he German authoritiesbelieved him."

It was at an exhibition that year where he first met the artist Sophie Taeuber who was to become his collaborator in the production of works of art and a significant influence on his artistic style and working method. They married on 20 October 1922.

In 1916 Hugo Ball opened the Cabaret Voltaire, which was to become the centre of Dada activities in Zürich for a group that included Arp, Marcel Janco, Tristan Tzara, and others. In 1920, as Hans Arp, along with Max Ernst and the social activist Alfred Grünwald, he set up the Cologne Dada group. In 1925 his work also appeared in the first exhibition of the Surrealist group at the Galérie Pierre in Paris.

The Henri Bergson Influence

In 1926 Arp moved to the Paris suburb of Meudon. In 1931 he broke with the Surrealist movement to found Abstraction-Création, working with the Paris-based group Abstraction-Création and the periodical, ''Transition''. Beginning in the 1930s the artist expanded his efforts from collage, assemblage (''Trousse d'un Da'', 1921) and bas-relief to include bronze and stone sculptures. He produced several small works made of multiple elements that the viewer could pick up, separate, and rearrange into new configurations.

Throughout the 1930s and until the end of his life, he wrote and published essays and poetry. In 1942 he fled from his home in Meudon to escape German occupation and lived in Zürich until the war ended.

Success

Arp visited New York City in 1949 for a solo exhibition at the Buchholz Gallery, and this coincided with a general international recognition of his work. In 1950 he was invited to execute a relief for the Harvard University Graduate Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and would also be commissioned to do a mural at the UNESCO building in Paris. Arthur and Madeleine Lewja, of Galerie Chalette, who had known Arp in Europe, became his gallery representatives in New York in the late 1950s, and were instrumental in establishing his reputation on the American side of the Atlantic.

In 1958, a retrospective of Arp's work was held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, followed by an exhibition at the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris in 1962. In 1972, the Metropolitan Museum of Art showcased Jean Arp's work from the Lejwa's collection and a few works lent by Arp's widow, Marguerite Arp. The exhibition was expanded and traveled as "Arp 1877–1966," first exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and then shown in seven museums in the United States and six in Australia. Organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Wurttembergischer Kunstverein of Stuttgart, a 150-piece exhibition titled "The Universe of Jean Arp" concluded an international six-city tour at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1986.

Exhibitions

Group

* ''The Spiritual Mission of Art: Artworks by Jean Arp & Sophie Taeuber-Arp'' (1960, Oct – Nov) Galerie Chalette, New York

Solo

* ''Jean Arp, (''1949, January 18 – February 12) Buchholz Gallery, New York
* ''Jean Arp: A Retrospective'' (1958, Oct 8 – Nov 30) MOMA, New York
* ''Jean Arp'' (1965) Galerie Chalette, New York
* ''Sculpture, Reliefs, Works on Paper: Jean Arp'' (1965) Galerie Chalette, New York
* ''Jean Arp: A Retrospective'' (1962) Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris

Posthumous

* ''Exhibition of Sculpture in Marble, Bronze & Wood Relief by Jean Arp'' (1980 January 10 - February 16) Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
*''The Nature of Arp (September 15, 2018 – January 6, 2019) Nasher Sculpture Center''
* ''Hans Arp's Constellations II'' (2019, February 8 – July 28) Harvard Art Museums

Recognition

Arp's career was distinguished with many awards including the Grand Prize for sculpture at the 1954 Venice Biennale, a sculpture prizes at the 1964 Pittsburgh International, the 1963 Grand Prix National des Arts, the 1964 Carnegie Prize, the 1965 Goethe Prize from the University of Hamburg, and then the Order of Merit with a Star of the German Republic.

Personal life and death

Arp and his first wife, the Swiss artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp, became French nationals in 1926. In the 1930s they bought a piece of land in Clamart and built a house at the edge of a forest. Influenced by the Bauhaus, Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand, Taeuber designed it.Saskia De Rothschild (14 February 2013)
Glimpses of Jean Arp's World
''The New York Times''. She died in 1943 in Zürich, where they had moved to escape the German occupation of France, from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. After living in Zürich, Arp was to make Meudon his primary residence again in 1946.

In 1959 Arp married the collector Marguerite Hagenbach (1902–1994), his long-time companion. He died in 1966, in Basel, Switzerland.

Legacy

There are three Arp foundations in Europe: The Fondation Arp in Clamart preserves the atelier where Arp lived and worked for most of his life; about 2,000 visitors tour the house each year. The Fondazione Marguerite Arp-Hagenbach in Locarno, Switzerland, was founded by Arp's second wife, Marguerite Arp-Hagenbach. A foundation dedicated to Arp, named Stiftung Hans Arp und Sophie Taeuber-Arp e.V., was established in 1977 by the dealer Johannes Wasmuth in consultation with Marguerite Arp-Hagenbach and owns the largest collection of works by Arp and holds the copyright of all his works. It has research centre and office in Berlin, and an office in Rolandseck, Germany.Gareth Harris (12 September 2012)
Shake up at Arp foundation
'' The Art Newspaper''.

The Musée d'art moderne et contemporain of Strasbourg houses many of his paintings and sculptures.

Gallery

Early work, Dada-influenced

File:Hottingen Hans Arp 1915.JPG, A wall painting made in Zürich in 1916
File:Jean Arp, 391, No. 8, Zurich, February 1919.jpg, Reproduced in '' 391'', No. 8, Zürich, February 1919
File:Dada 4-5 Zurich-1919-Collage et bois gravé de Arp en couverture LB.4-0531 mb.jpg, Print for the cover of ''Dada 4'', 1919
File:L'escalier de l'Aubette en 1928 (musées de Strasbourg) (29056943916).jpg, Stained glass windows in the Aubette, 1928
File:Shirt Front and Fork.JPG, 1922, ''Shirt Front and Fork'', wood
File:Jean Arp Configuration.jpg, ''Configuration'', 1931, wood

Mid-century

File:Impish Fruit' by Jean Arp (Hans Arp), Tate Modern.JPG, 1943, ''Impish Fruit'', wood
File:HansArp-CloudShepher1953.JPG, 1953, '' Cloud-shepherd / Berger de nuages'', bronze
File:Schalenboom, Jean Arp, Middelheimmuseum 01.jpg, 1947–53, ''Tree of Shells'', bronze
File:Evocation of a Form Human Lunar Spectral.jpg, 1950, '' Evocation of a Form: Human, Lunar, Spectral'', bronze
File:Marl Arp 01.JPG, 1959, ''Feuille se reposant'', bronze
File:Wolkenschale.jpg, 1961, Wolkenschale (EN: "Cloud Shell"), stone

Late (and posthumous) work in bronze and stainless steel

File:Arp-museum-2017-40.jpg, 1962, ''Schlüssel des Stundenschlägers'', bronze
File:Tanzgeschmeide.jpg, , ''Moving Dance Jewelry'', bronze
File:Jerusalem King George Street sculpture.jpg, 1972, ''On the Threshold of Jerusalem,'' Stainless Steel, Meir Sherman Garden, Jerusalem
File:Mz-SchluesseldesStundenschlaegers.jpg, 1974, ''Schlüssel des Stundenschlägers'', bronze, Mainz, Germany
File:1982-01-Washington National Art Gallery-East Building028-ps.jpg, 1977, ''Oriform'', stainless steel, Hirshorn Museum, Washington
File:Tomb of Hans Jean Arp, Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Marguerite Arp-Hagenbach in Locarno Switzerland.jpg, Memorial to Hans Arp, Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Marguerite Arp-Hagenbach, bronze on granite, Locarno, Switzerland

References

Further reading

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*Jean Arp. (1972). ''Arp on Arp: Poems, Essays, Memories''. Viking Press. (posthumous collection of Arp's writings)

External links

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''Composition''
Jean Arp – Composition according to the law of chance...
Jean Arp, Works in Museo Cantonale d'Arte, LuganoFondation Arp in Clamart, FranceFondazione Marguerite Arp in Locarno, Switzerland

Stiftung Arp in Berlin, GermanyArp Museum in Remagen, Germany
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42 woodcuts by Arp in “Dada” periodical issues
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Arp, Jean
1886 births
1966 deaths
French abstract painters
German abstract painters
Alsatian-German people
Académie Julian alumni
Dada
20th-century French painters
20th-century German male artists
20th-century French male artists
French male painters
20th-century German sculptors
German male sculptors
20th-century German painters
German male painters
Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Artists from Strasbourg
School of Paris
German surrealist artists
French surrealist artists
German surrealist writers
French surrealist writers
Surrealist poets
20th-century French sculptors
French male sculptors
20th-century French poets
German-language poets
20th-century German poets
German male poets
Painters from Alsace
20th-century German male writers
French abstract sculptors
German abstract sculptors
Writers from Strasbourg
German people of French descent