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Artists in 60 Seconds: Jean Arp

By Shelley Esaak, About.com

© 2006 Hans Arp / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Jean Arp (Hans Arp) (French, born Germany [Alsace], 1886-1966) Untitled (Forest). ca. 1917 Painted wood relief 12 7/8 x 7 3/4 x 3" (32.7 x 19.7 x 7.6 cm) National Gallery of Art, Washington, Andrew W. Mellon Fund

© 2006 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington, photo: Lorene Emerson

Movement, Style, School or Type of Art:

Dada > Surrealism

Date and Place of Birth:

September 16, 1886, Strassburg, Germany (now Strasbourg, France)

Life:

Jean Arp certainly had a lively intelligence. Over the course of his artistic career, he worked with the Abstract pioneers, was a founder of Dada, hung out with the Surrealists, went on to found the movement Abstraction-Création and invent biomorphic sculpture. All of these movements and his playful, amoeba-like forms had a huge impact on art, particularly in the Performance movement. He also worked in collage and printmaking, and practiced "automatic" (free-conscious) writing.

Important Works:

  • Collage Arranged According to the Laws of Chance, 1916-17
  • Mountain Table Anchors Navel, 1925
  • Configuration, 1933
  • Torso, 1953

Date and Place of Death:

June 7, 1966, Basel, Switzerland

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