Jean Arp

An outstanding German artist, sculptor, designer and poet.

His father was a German man from Kiel and his mother was from Alsace. His restless nature, the propensity to move, according to Arp, was predetermined – he called himself Jean, when he spoke in French, and Hans, when he switched to German.

He was a founding member and participant of many avant-garde groups in Zurich, Munich, Berlin, Cologne, Paris. Cavalier of the main orders of France in the field of culture, winner of many prestigious awards. A large collection of works is presented at the Museum of New and Contemporary Art in Strasbourg, situated on the square of H. Arp. The cultural center in Clamart, a street in Paris. is named after the artist. The Foundation of Arp in Bonn received the status of a national museum in 2004.

Key ideas:

– Hans Arp saw an eventuality as a co-author of the process of work, considered it a part of his work. Therefore, he often did not conceive the plot, did not name his paintings, waiting for the final result. In this way, he sought to minimize the interference and control of the conscious over the mystery of fine art.

– Arp made his early collages «in a branded way»: he tore a paper into squares and threw them from the top of a staircase. He could always have a chance that they would fall on the background in a way that would make a harmonious composition. Even is Arp was not ready to fully refuse from the control of the process, the idea was incredibly radical and demonstrated his adherence to the ideas of chaos that was the hallmark of the Dada movement.

– The abstract compositions of Arp offer a viewer such organic forms that make him curious. For instance, in a painting with two objects, one (fork) is recognized immediately and provides an understanding that the second one is a shirt, although, the objects can be understood in any way. Together they are presented as a consensual structure, harmonious, according to the author, for the viewer’s eyes due to the tranquil combination of colors. In general, throughout his career, Arp preferred a soft palette. In 1955, he determined his color preferences: «most of all, black, white and gray».

– The works of Arpa have a clear graphic quality – this mostly concerns collages, although few scenic storyboards are characterised by a clear contour and flatness of an image.

– At the turn of the 1930s, the artist created the series «Constellations» (literally – a constellation, and, more broadly, a mutual arrangement, interaction). In these compositions, there are soft, smoothly rounded forms, similar to biologic tissue or microorganisms that grow, dissipating in space. The painting «Configuration with two dangerous dots» shows that the author pays more attention to achieving an ideal structural balance. The composition consists of floating drops with gentle curves and demonstrates a clear feeling of the game of forms, and the descriptional name is not deprived of humor, as it is unclear, where these so-called dangerous dots are. Sometimes the avant-garde artist introduces wood texture in the neighborhood with incorporeal forms, and it becomes an element that emphasizes the phantasm of the otherworldly shadows floating in the void.

– Sculptures of this period are also round and biomorphic – they stretch upward, then swell, then fall down powerlessly shrinking. It seems that each of them has its own life, what is especially impressive, because the author depicts only parts – legs or a head, a twig without a tree, a leaf. Arp many times claimed that art is a form of manifestation of nature. His Dadaistic abstraction is an image of the vital processes of birth, growth and development, death and rebirth.