- 342
Jean Arp
Description
- Jean Arp
- Amphore de muse
- Painted papier mâché with plaster
- Height (including base): 71 1/2 in.
- 181.6 cm
Provenance
Private Collection, France
Private Collection, Lake Forest, Illinois
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1994
Exhibited
Literature
Arie Hartog, ed., Hans Arp, Sculptures—A Critical Study, Ostfildern, 2012, no. 183, illustration of the related bronze version p. 138
Condition
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
Executed in 1960, Amphore de muse is a unique work created for a theater piece written by Jean Thibaudeau and directed by Jacques Polieri entitled Texte pour des sculptures de Arp. The play was performed at the Théâtre de l'Alliance Française in Paris in 1960 around the following four sculptures: La Très Grande Dame, Coupes Superposées, Amphore de muse (the present work), and Seuils. Audience members included Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Sonia Delaunay and Alexander Calder. Polieri placed La très grande dame and Coupes superposées on the main stage, while Amphore de Muse was placed facing them in the room (see fig. 2). With its smooth and unblemished surface, this form appears to be carved out of marble, and the unexpectedness of its true medium is a fundamental aspect of this beautiful Surrealist sculpture. The same year this sculpture was created, Michel Seuphor expounded on the spiritual appeal of Arp's forms, of which the present work is a defining example: "[A] man of accomplished spirituality might see in each of Arp's sculptures a translation of the highest activities of the spirit, the very soul of the Prajna Paramita of the Hindus. And is not a leaf as authentic an image of the supreme wisdom as the imaginary face of the Buddha? What is a form if not the expression of a force that animates it, of a spirit that inhabits it? To let this force, this spirit, speak freely is the aim that Arp undertakes to achieve without going beyond it. Now it is especially difficult not to go beyond it (through the richness of the imagination, in particular), for this language must be as simple as the song of a bird, as calm as the beating of the heart, as humble as water" (Michel Seuphor, Jean Arp & Sophie Taeuber-Arp (exhibition catalogue), Galerie Chalette, New York, 1960, p. 14).