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Jean Arp

Alsatian sculptor, painter, poet and abstract artist (1886-1966) · France · Artists · Died at 79

Jean Arp is read about 359 times a day, in 51 languages.

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He dissolved the boundary between accident and intention - one of Dada's original circle, then a sculptor who let chance carve the form.

ArtistsArtistPaintingSculpturePoetryLiteraturePhotographyDJ

A life in dates

1966Died7 June 1966Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of GermanyAward, 19661960Knight of the Legion of HonourAward1948“As the thought comes to me to exorcise and transform this black with a white drawing, it has already become a surface..”In their wordsHans Arp's quote on drawing on the black surface; as quoted in Search for the Real, Hans Hofmann, Addison Gallery of modern Art, 1948

1931“Concretion signifies the material process of condensation, hardening, coagulating, thickening, growing together. Concretion designates the solidification of a mass.”In their wordsJean Arp (1931), as quoted in: Eric Robertson (2006) Arp: Painter, Poet, Sculptor, p. 108

1930“In recent times, Surrealist painters have used descriptive illusionistic academic methods.”In their wordsIn a letter to Polish poet Jan Brzekowski, ca. 1930, co-publisher of the Franco-Polish magazine 'L'art contemporain'; from Jours

1916“We [Hans Arp and Sophie Taeuber ] painted embroidered and made collages. All these works were drawn from the simplest forms and were probably the first examples of concrete art.”In their wordsArp's quote, on the cooperation with his future wife Sophie Taeuber ca. 1916; as quoted in: Abstract Art, Anna Moszynska, Thames and

1915“I met Sophie Taeuber in Zurich in 1915. Even then she already knew how to give direct and palpable shape to her inner reality.”In their wordsArp's quote on his wife, in 'Sophie Taeuber-Arp', Hans Arp; in Arp on Arp: Poems, Essays, Memories, ed. Marcel Jean, transl. Joachim

1914“Revolted by the butchery of the 1914 World War, we in Zurich devoted ourselves to the arts.”In their wordsDadaland (1948); Quoted in: Cosana Maria Eram (2010) The autobiographical pact: otherness and redemption in four French avant-garde

1886Born16 September 1886

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Hans ArpHans ArpArp and Ball in PompeiiArp and Ball in PompeiiBeecke, Portrait du peintre strasbourgeois Hans ArpBeecke, Portrait du peintre strasbourgeois Hans ArpDada 4-5 Zurich-1919-Collage et bois gravé de Arp en couverture LB.4-0531 mbDada 4-5 Zurich-1919-Collage et bois gravé de Arp en couverture LB.4-0531 mbHans Arp PK-F-EAA.4773Hans Arp PK-F-EAA.4773Hans Arp PK-F-EAA.6772Hans Arp PK-F-EAA.6772Hans Arp PK-F-EAA.6773Hans Arp PK-F-EAA.6773Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp with Naval-Monocle, c1926Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp with Naval-Monocle, c1926

In their own words 10

,
Jean Arp
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. As the thought comes to me to exorcise and transform this black with a white drawing, it has already become a surface..

    1948, Hans Arp's quote on drawing on the black surface; as quoted in Search for the Real, Hans Hofmann, Addison Gallery of modern Art, 1948, Own words

  2. A painting or sculpture not modeled on any real object is every bit as concrete and sensuous as a leaf or a stone..

    1932, Notes From a Dada Diary, published in 1932; as quoted by Anna Moszynska, in Abstract Art, Thames and Hudson, London, 1990, p. 113, Own words

  3. Concretion signifies the material process of condensation, hardening, coagulating, thickening, growing together. Concretion designates the solidification of a mass.

    1931, Jean Arp (1931), as quoted in: Eric Robertson (2006) Arp: Painter, Poet, Sculptor, p. 108, Own words

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Awards

Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany1966
Knight of the Legion of Honour1960
Officer of Arts and Letters

In their orbit 4

About this person

Born Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp on 16 September 1886, he moved between German and French identities as easily as he moved between mediums. He joined the Dadaists when the movement was still a Zurich café provocation, using chance operations and torn paper to mock the idea that art required control. Later he turned to sculpture and abstraction, shaping organic forms that seemed to have grown rather than been made. He worked in paint, in verse, in wood and stone. He died on 7 June 1966, having spent sixty years proving that art could be serious about not being serious.

Country
France
Category
Artists
Type
Artist
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1886 to 1966 · aged 79

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