Hans (Jean) Arp *

(Strasbourg 1886–1966 Basel)
Collage charte(s), 1948, signed on the reverse, colored cardboard on paper, 31.2 x 23.1 cm, framed
Provenance:
Galerie Buchholz - Curt Valentin, New York
Collection of Jane Sabersky (1911–1983), New York
Sale: Christie's, New York, January 12, 1983, lot 135
Private Collection, Germany (acquired at the above sale by the present owner)

Exhibited:
Vienna, BA-CA-Kunstforum, "Verrückte Liebe. Von DalÍ bis Bacon. Surreale Kunst aus der Sammlung Ulla und Heiner Pietzsch", 2006
Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie, „Bilderträume. Die Sammlung Ulla und Heiner Pietzsch“, 2009/2010

Literature:
Ulla und Heiner Pietzsch, Leben mit Kunst. Sammlung Ulla und Heiner Pietzsch, Berlin 2000, p. 130 with ill.
BA-CA-Kunstforum Vienna, Verrückte Liebe. Von Dali bis Francis Bacon. Surreale Kunst aus der Sammlung Ulla und Heiner Pietzsch, Vienna 2006, cat.-no. 15, p. 40 with ill.
Udo Kittelmann / Dieter Scholz / Anke Daemgen, Bilderträume. Die Sammlung Ulla und Heiner Pietzsch, München / Berlin / London / New York, 2009, p. 186 with ill.

The collage was one of the first media through which Hans Arp gave expression to his creativity and his artistic approach. Even in his later works, he continued to create them according to the Dadaist concept of 'guided chance'.

The organic-looking shapes constantly create a dynamic tension between one another. They play with constellations of forces, with contrasts of color and form, and remind us of something we cannot, quite put into words, but feel.

Collage charte(s) as well, is about the visual balance – that is, bringing together different structures with varying dispositions to form a harmonious whole.