Hans (Jean) Arp - Architektonische Skulptur (Sculpture architectonique)
Hans (Jean) Arp
Architektonische Skulptur (Sculpture architectonique)
1958
Bronze. Height 193.5 cm, width 94 cm, depth 19.5 cm. Marked on the side at the lower edge with the foundry mark. Cast 1/3. One of presumably only two bronze casts, probably cast in 1976 by the foundry Reussner & Donzé, Fleurier/Switzerland. The second cast is located at the Kantonsspital St. Gallen. It is unknown whether the planned third copy was also cast. In addition, there is an aluminium cast. - Vivid, golden-brown patina. - In very fine condition.
Hans Arp was one of the twelve artists who received commissions to decorate UNESCO’s newly constructed headquarters in Paris with their artworks. He created the large-format wall relief “Constellation UNESCO”, which consists of multiple, separately mounted bronze elements (cf. Rau 558). The design for “Architektonische Skulptur” was also created in the process of his work on this important commission.
Arp frequently realised his poetic works inspired by natural forms as free-standing sculptures featuring closed, gently rounded forms. His reliefs linked with an underlying ground represent another key group of works: they combine gently flowing compositions of form with two-dimensionality and precise edges. In the late 1950s the artist elaborated upon these to create his so-called threshold sculptures – free-standing “hybrids” between sculptures in the round and reliefs, which are made to be viewed from two sides.
The threshold sculptures, which include “Architektonische Skulptur”, resemble cross-sections of works in the round or also reliefs detached from their underlying ground. Negative forms are of particular relevance in this group of works and are produced through gaps and openings. Eduard Trier has accordingly also described the threshold sculptures as “gates that have become autonomous and open to empty space, as combinations of artistic forms and the backgrounds they surround and allow to pass through. The positive (metallic) and negative (spatial) forms are simultaneously the path and the goal, permanence and change; they release and integrate, they are the threshold to ever-new vistas and spatial constellations” (cited from: Eduard Trier, Hans Arp. Skulpturen 1957-1966, Stuttgart 1968, p. XV).
The extremely rare “Architektonische Skulptur” is among the largest bronzes by Hans Arp available on the auction market.
Catalogue Raisonné
Hartog/Fischer 179; Trier 179
Provenance
Former collection Marcel Joray, Neuchâtel; private collection, Switzerland; Galerie Renée Ziegler, Zurich/Galerie Brusberg, Berlin; Galerie Ziegler SA., Zurich
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
Hans (Jean) Arp
Architektonische Skulptur (Sculpture architectonique)
1958
Bronze. Height 193.5 cm, width 94 cm, depth 19.5 cm. Marked on the side at the lower edge with the foundry mark. Cast 1/3. One of presumably only two bronze casts, probably cast in 1976 by the foundry Reussner & Donzé, Fleurier/Switzerland. The second cast is located at the Kantonsspital St. Gallen. It is unknown whether the planned third copy was also cast. In addition, there is an aluminium cast. - Vivid, golden-brown patina. - In very fine condition.
Hans Arp was one of the twelve artists who received commissions to decorate UNESCO’s newly constructed headquarters in Paris with their artworks. He created the large-format wall relief “Constellation UNESCO”, which consists of multiple, separately mounted bronze elements (cf. Rau 558). The design for “Architektonische Skulptur” was also created in the process of his work on this important commission.
Arp frequently realised his poetic works inspired by natural forms as free-standing sculptures featuring closed, gently rounded forms. His reliefs linked with an underlying ground represent another key group of works: they combine gently flowing compositions of form with two-dimensionality and precise edges. In the late 1950s the artist elaborated upon these to create his so-called threshold sculptures – free-standing “hybrids” between sculptures in the round and reliefs, which are made to be viewed from two sides.
The threshold sculptures, which include “Architektonische Skulptur”, resemble cross-sections of works in the round or also reliefs detached from their underlying ground. Negative forms are of particular relevance in this group of works and are produced through gaps and openings. Eduard Trier has accordingly also described the threshold sculptures as “gates that have become autonomous and open to empty space, as combinations of artistic forms and the backgrounds they surround and allow to pass through. The positive (metallic) and negative (spatial) forms are simultaneously the path and the goal, permanence and change; they release and integrate, they are the threshold to ever-new vistas and spatial constellations” (cited from: Eduard Trier, Hans Arp. Skulpturen 1957-1966, Stuttgart 1968, p. XV).
The extremely rare “Architektonische Skulptur” is among the largest bronzes by Hans Arp available on the auction market.
Catalogue Raisonné
Hartog/Fischer 179; Trier 179
Provenance
Former collection Marcel Joray, Neuchâtel; private collection, Switzerland; Galerie Renée Ziegler, Zurich/Galerie Brusberg, Berlin; Galerie Ziegler SA., Zurich
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
