ARMAN | Le massacre des innocents II

accumulation of dolls in an artist's boxExecuted in 1961, this work is unique. This work is recorded in the Arman Studio Archives New York under number: APA# 8002.61.021.This work is registered in the archives of Denyse Durand-Ruel under number 2843 and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.

Galerie Daniel Gervis, Paris
Collection Ahrenberg, Switzerland
Sale: Sotheby's London, Modern and Contemporary Art, 5 April 1979, lot 412
Acquired from the above by the present owners

Geneva, Galerie Bonnier, Arman, oeuvres choisies, 1985; catalogue, no. 2, illustrated
Vence, Château Notre Dame des Fleurs, Galerie Beaubourg, Les Nouveaux réalistes, 26 June - 31 october 1997
Nice, MAMAC, Arman, Passage à l'acte, 16 June - 14 October 2001; catalogue, p. 81, illustrated in colour
Paris, Centre Pompidou, Arman, 22 September - 10 January 2011; catalogue, p. 149, illustrated in colour

Denyse Durand-Ruel, Arman Catalogue raisonné II, Turin, 1991, p.90, no. 149, illustrated
Bernard Lamarche-Vadel, Arman, Paris, 1998, p. 109, illustrated in colour
Tita Reut, Arman armé, Milan, 2004, p. 86, illustrated in colour
Pierre Nahon, L'Histoire de la Galerie Beaubourg I, 1936-1988, Paris, 2009, p. 258, illustrated in colour

The colours are fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration although the overall tonality is slightly softer in the original work. There is a thin layer of dust on the frame and the elements. Imperfections to the surface are inherent to the artist chosen technique and medium. Traces or carefully restored areas are visible on the rim of the frame. This work is in good original 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."

Of all the New Realists, Arman is the one who thrust more toward his appropriative orientation. There is an instinct of appropriation of the real in him, that is the key to his adventure, a fundamental need to express the contingent reality in the natural state.
Pierre Restany, 1961 Since the beginning of the century, artistic creation has become a behavior: acting like an artist has become more important that the production that justified this status. Imbued with this power of fascination, artists like Arman set their seal on products that derive from our relationship to objects. Unlike before, when art required artists to transfer the outside world as well as their inner one onto the canvas with so little means, today it is enough to manipulate objects. What did Arman do? First, imprints, traces of objects covered with ink on paper. Then he appropriated a space by entirely filling it up with waste and trash: the full that follows Yves Klein’s empty. Very logically, he materialized the empty through a series of works, the “Inclusions”. They were pieces of waste enclosed in a box and sealed in plastic. The full is also about accumulation, piling up the same object to saturation, and allowing objects to fully express themselves through their form.