- 2
Jean Arp
Description
- Jean Arp
- Point-virgule
- painted wood relief on board in the artist’s painted frame
- 51 by 32.7cm.
- 20 1/8 by 12 7/8 in. (including frame)
Provenance
Private Collection, France (by descent from the above. Sold: Calmels Cohen, Paris, André Breton. 42, rue Fontaine, 14th April 2003, lot 4246)
Purchased at the above sale
Exhibited
Mexico City, Galería de Arte Mexicano, Exposición internacional del surrealism, 1940, no. 1, illustrated in the catalogue
Paris, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, André Breton, la beauté convulsive, 1991, illustrated in the catalogue
Bilbao, Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa Fundazioa, Arp, 2001, illustrated in the catalogue
New York, Jan Krugier Gallery & Richard L. Feigen & Co., Drawing in Space, 2007-08, no. 2, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Strasbourg, Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Art is Arp: dessins, collages, reliefs, sculptures, poésie, 2008-09, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Literature
Galerie Beaux-Arts (ed.), Exposition international du Surrealism. Dictionnaire abrégé du Surréalisme, Paris, 1938, illustrated p. 1938
Bernd Rau, Hans Arp, Die Reliefs: Œuvre-Katalog, Stuttgart, 1981, p. 121a, illustrated p. 65
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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
The first owner of Point-virgule was the writer and leader of the Surrealist group André Breton, for whom the literary symbolism of the work would have held great significance. Initially associated to the Zurich Dada group, Arp became known to Breton, and along with other promising artists and writers was induced to join Breton in Paris. As Eric Robertson writes: ‘Arp was without doubt the most creative, and the most introspective, of the Zurich group. According to Huelsenbeck [the Dada poet], “he only cared about the revolutionary implications of our artistic activities and hence of art in general”. Of these “revolutionary implications”, perhaps the most significant was the rejection of traditional painting styles and techniques. Arp shunned not only figurative illusionism, but even the medium of oil on canvas, evolving instead at an early stage what became constants of his mature work: semi-abstract biomorphic drawings and painted wooden reliefs in a heavily restricted palette, inhabited by a personal cosmogony of bottles, navel, torsos and heads’ (E. Robertson, Arp: Painter, Poet, Sculptor, New Haven & London, 2006, pp. 70-71).