- 52
讓·阿爾普
描述
- Jean Arp
- 《留小鬍子的男人》
- 款識:畫家簽名Hans Arp並題款(背面)
- 油彩鏤空畫板
- 54.3 x 49.6公分
- 21 3/8 x 19 1/2英寸
來源
Dr Peter Nathan, Zurich (sold: Klipstein und Kornfeld, Bern, 9th May 1963, lot 21)
Saidenberg Gallery, New York
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller, New York (acquired by 1969)
Galerie d'Art Moderne, Basel
Private Collection, Germany (acquired circa 1975. Sold: Christie's, New York, 4th May 2011, lot 3)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner
展覽
出版
Bernd Rau & Michel Seuphor, Hans Arp. Die Reliefs, Œuvre-Katalog, Stuttgart, 1981, no. 67, illustrated p. 39
拍品資料及來源
Homme-moustache was executed in 1925, the year when Arp moved to Paris, taking a studio at 22 rue Tourlaque, neighbouring those of Max Ernst and Joan Miró. Arp’s involvement with the Surrealist group had grown through his acquaintance with these artists as well as with André Breton. His works executed during this period evolved from his earlier Dada imagery, while adopting a less abstract manner and at the same time pointing to his interest in Constructivism. The principle of chance that led Arp in the creation of his cut-outs and reliefs shows a great affinity with the philosophy of the Surrealist artists, as does his tendency to depict forms evocative of the human body in a humorous, sometimes grotesque manner. The present composition is dominated by a boldly coloured blue form against the yellow and black background. Three cut-out shapes suggest the eyes and nose, while the blue shape can be identified as the moustache referred to in the title.
Jane Hancock wrote about Arp’s production from the 1920s: ‘Highly stylized and often comical images of human beings and everyday objects dominated Arp’s work in the 1920s. He based these on the real world but did not use them in a conventional representational manner. Once he compared this nonliteral iconography and highly original style to a linguistic system: "The problem of the object language cropped up in 1920: the navel, the clock, the doll, etc." The elements of this Object Language included not only whole figures and faces, but also isolated features such as lips, noses, navels, and breasts […]. They often bear slight resemblance to the items they represent, and the viewer unfamiliar with Arp’s work must depend on his titles to identify them. […] Arp continued to insist on many aesthetic principles he had adopted earlier: clearly defined forms, organic shapes, irregular compositional arrangements, flatness’ (J. Hancock, ‘The Figure and Its Attributes: Dada and Surrealism’, in Arp (exhibition catalogue), Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart (and travelling), 1986-88, p. 88).
Indeed, all of these characteristics are beautifully displayed in the present work: the organic shapes are crisply delineated and defined by simple, nearly abstract forms. Despite the flatness of the composition, the diagonal slant of the central feature and the shadows created by the cut-out elements give it a sense of fluidity and movement. Executed shortly after the dissipation of the Dada movement and in the early days of Surrealism, Homme-moustache shows influences of both philosophies on Arp’s work, and is a powerful testament to this pivotal moment in the development of Modern Art.