Lot 342
  • 342

Jean Arp

Estimate
600,000 - 800,000 USD
bidding is closed

Description

  • Jean Arp
  • Amphore de muse
  • Painted papier mâché with plaster
  • Height (including base): 71 1/2 in.
  • 181.6 cm

Provenance

Jacques Polieri, Paris
Private Collection, France
Private Collection, Lake Forest, Illinois
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1994

Exhibited

Munich, Haus der Kunst, Elan Vital oder Das Auge des Eros; Kandinsky, Klee, Arp, Miró, Calder, 1994, no. 182, illustrated in the catalogue

Literature

Eduard Trier, Jean Arp Sculpture: His Last Ten Years, New York, 1968, no. 190, illustration of the related bronze version p. 110
Arie Hartog, ed., Hans Arp, Sculptures—A Critical Study, Ostfildern, 2012, no. 183, illustration of the related bronze version p. 138

Condition

The sculpture is stable and structurally sound. There are a few areas of apparent repair to the surface of the sculpture, including three areas to the protruding vertical element, and one area of repair to the lip where the vertical area meets its base. There is a small vertical crack to the left of the top of the protruding vertical element. There appears to be some strokes of retouching to the white pigment scattered throughout, which do not detract from the overall appearance of the surface. The work is in overall good 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

Often guided by chance and intuition, Arp enjoyed creating organic, irregular shapes evocative of natural forms and parts of the human anatomy. Although he developed a highly abstract visual vocabulary, in his sculptures Arp always established a connection between these biomorphic forms and elements of the natural world in such a way as to unveil the mysterious and poetic elements hidden in everyday forms. Arp always enjoyed seeing his sculptures in outdoor settings where they could enter into a dialogue with the natural world. With its amorphous and irregular shape, Amphore de muse evidences some of the central theme's of Arp's original manifesto. "All things, and man as well, should be like nature, without measure," he wrote as a young artist, "I wanted to create new appearances, to extract new forms from man" (quoted in Serge Fauchereau, Arp, New York, 1988, p. 15). 

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).