Germany
* September 16, 1886 Strasbourg
† June 7, 1966 Basel
The German-French artist Jean (Hans) Arp, who began his artistic career in the Parisian art scene of Constructivists and Surrealists, is considered a co-founder of Dadaism in Zurich in 1916 and a pioneer of biomorphic abstraction. He loved soft, flowing, organically rounded forms; his sculptures often evoke natural elements such as plants, pebbles, or human body parts without directly depicting them.
The artist worked closely with his first wife, the artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp. His works are generally non-representational. His aim was not to depict anything realistically, but rather to achieve rhythm and harmony in abstract, mostly smooth forms, which make his work unmistakable to this day.
Especially in his early Dada collages, Arp used the principle of chance to challenge traditional notions of an artist’s control and planning. His “chance compositions”, in which he dropped pieces of paper and fixed them exactly where they landed, are famous. The Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck in Remagen is entirely dedicated to the renowned artist couple.
