Jean Arp

Brook Street Gallery, London (acquired in 1970)
Private Collection, Detroit
Donald Morris Gallery, Michigan (acquired from the above in 1980)
Obelisk Gallery, Boston
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1984

Eduard Trier, Jean Arp, Sculptures 1957-1966, Stuttgart, 1968, no. 314, illustration of the marble example p. 94
Ionel Jianou, Jean Arp, Paris, 1973, no. 314, illustration of the larger granite version pl. 46
Arp (exhibition catalogue), The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1987, no. 263, illustration of the marble example p. 241
Serge Fauchereau, Arp, London, 1989, no. 130, illustrated in colour p. 99
Arie Hartog (ed.), Sculptures, A critical survey, Ostfildern, 2012, no. 314, illustration of the marble example p. 378

Golden brown patina. Modulation throughout the surface appears inherent to the patina. Occasional scattered dark spots correspond to visible casting plugs. Surface is clean. This work is in overall very good condition.
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Arp's most successful sculptures are characterised by their surfaces and smooth curvilinear forms. Since his involvement with Dada and Surrealism in the 1920s and 1930s and until the end of his life, the elegant beauty of Arp's sculpture was increasingly analysed in terms of spirituality. Recognised throughout his career for his ability to transcend formal boundaries and create works of art that could be interpreted differently depending upon a given viewer's needs and expectations, Arp was labelled by one critic as ‘a well-rounded mystic’ for his ability to appeal to a wide audience. At the heart of Arp's success is the organic beauty of his sculptures, which seem to manifest from a vision unencumbered by any formal constraints.

Guided by chance and intuition, the artist often created organic, irregular shapes evocative of natural forms. Although he developed a highly abstract visual vocabulary, in his sculptures Arp always established a connection between these biomorphic forms and elements hidden in everyday forms. Arp always enjoyed seeing his sculptures in natural settings, as evidenced by his large carvings placed in the garden outside his studio, where they could merge into the landscape and become one with nature.