the exhibition comprises around 140 works: sculpture, drawings, collages, mobiles and architectural and furniture designs from some of the most prestigious private collections and museums in Europe. It offers an insight into the professional and personal relationship between Hans Jean Arp, the abstract-surrealist sculptor, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp, abstract painter and sculptor – two figures who in different but parallel ways helped to modify the course of art in the twentieth century.
The exhibition investigates the personal and artistic links between Hans Jean Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp, with special emphasis on the artistic collaboration between them in the early years of their relationship, from 1916 to the mid 1920s. This was a period when the couple worked in Switzerland – in Zurich – and when the Dadaism was at its height; 1916 was the very year in which the movement first emerged from the Cabaret –Voltaire to ultimately revolutionize art, undermining received notions regarding such concepts as modernity, convention, communication and language. The show will comprise around 140 works: mainly paintings and sculpture, but also drawings, collages, mobiles, architectural and furniture designs, tapestries, watercolours, gouache and puppets.
The layout of the exhibition charts: the couple’s experience of Dadaism; the move to Paris and the contruction of their house at Clamart; and finally the return to Zurich.
Celebrating the achievements of a profound relationship, the exhibition demonstrates the convergences and divergences between the two artists, the similiarities and contrasts between their imaginative worlds. It will also cast light upon the strengths – and the difficulties – of a relationship that was both emotional and artistic, and can still be seen reflected in the work Arp produced after the untimely death of his wife in 1943.
The event also illustrates the role Sophie played in the Bauhaus contribution to interior design, as well as bringing out the links between Arp and the city of Venice itself – from his friendship with Peggy Guggenheim to the Gran Premio della Scultura won at the 1954 Biennale.
Further Information
Jean Arp & Sophie Taeuber Arp- Dada and Beyond
Museo Correr, Piazza San Marco, Venezia
April 8th until July 16th 2006
Opening Hours: daily from 10 am to 7 pm
Admissions: Adults: € 9,00 / Concessions € 7,00 and € 5,00
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