Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1110745
Jean Arp 1887-1966 Ohne Titel, c.1956-59 Inscribed verso '12' Gouache on thick paper 30 3/8 x 22 7/8 in, 77.2 x 58 cm Provenance Galerie Denise René, Paris / Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf (stock no. 1471) Private Collection (acquired from the above in 1979) Literature This work is registered in the archives of Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth, Fondation Arp, Clamart and Fondazione Marguerite Arp Hagenbach, Locarno, and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by the Arp Committee, dated 17 July 2017 and signed by the secretary of the committee Dr Maike Steinkamp As a founding member of the Dada movement in Zurich, Jean Arp is considered one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. Initially trained as a poet, Arp went on to establish his sculptural practice with the Surrealists in Paris, who shared the rebellious Dada spirit against the logic of bourgeois society in favour of an art form defined by nonsense. Moore first saw Arp's work while visiting Paris in the 1930s and was hugely influenced by his surrealist language of abstraction based on natural forms. The biomorphic figures that glide across Ohne Titel reveal Arp's enduring fascination with motifs such as seeds, plants and body parts, which he referred to as lyrical 'free forms'. Arp continually returned to these organic bodies, driven by the idea that art can be defined by the same forces of transformation, growth and metamorphosis that command nature. Fellow Surrealist Max Ernst explained that 'Arp's hypnotic language takes us back to a lost paradise, to cosmic secrets, and teaches us to understand the language of the universe.' Transformation became central to Moore's work as he explored the relationship between man and nature based on a universal and timeless understanding of the world.