Jean Arp was born in 1886 in Strasbourg, a city on the border between Germany and France. He was influenced by living through two world wars and was a lifelong pacifist. The art he made took lots of different forms and he used all sorts of different materials. He is maybe best known for his sculptures, which he made out of plaster, bronze and stone. He also created paintings, drawings, and his famous ‘chance’ collages which he made from tearing paper and sticking it wherever it fell. Arp was a poet as well as an artist and often wrote poetry to go alongside his art. Arp’s art is abstract but he was very inspired by nature. He used a lot of flowing, wavy lines, which might remind us of plants, parts of bodies, flowing water and other natural forms. There is a sense of humour and play in his work as well as a clear political ideology.

Images for lesson one

Arp, Torso Preadamite, 1938

Arp, Star, 1939

Arp, Constellation, 1932

Arp, Infinite Amphora, 1929

Images for lesson two

Arp, Sculpture to be Lost in the Forest, 1932

Arp, Pagoda Fruit, 1949

Images for lesson three

Arp, Three disagreeable Objects on a Face, 1930

Arp, Human Concretion, 1935

Arp, Sculpture to be Lost in the Forest, 1932, cast c.1953–8

Images for lesson five

Arp, According to the Laws of Chance, 1933

Arp, Untitled (Collage with Squares Arranged according to the Laws of Chance), 1917

Image Credits: Hans Arp with Navel Monocle, c 1926 Stiftung Arp e.V., Berlin/Rolandswerth Image © DACS 2017 Jean (Hans) Arp, Torso Preadamite, 1938 Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands Jean (Hans) Arp, Etoile (Star), plaster, 1939 Collection Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo Jean (Hans) Arp, Constellation, 1932 Galerie Haas AG, Zürich Jean (Hans) Arp, Infinite Amphora, 1929 Kunstmuseum Winterthur, from a Private Collection, 2015 Arp, Sculpture to be Lost in the Forest, 1932 Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, The Netherlands Jean (Hans) Arp, Pagoda Fruit, 1949 Tate: Purchased 1951

Jean (Hans) Arp, Three disagreeable Objects on a Face, 1930 Stiftung Arp e.V,.Rolandswerth/Berlin Jean (Hans) Arp, Human Concretion, 1935, MOMA New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn Jean (Hans) Arp, Sculpture to be Lost in the Forest, 1932, cast c.1953–8 Tate: Accepted by HM Government in lieu of tax and allocated to the Tate Gallery 1986 Jean (Hans) Arp, According to the Laws of Change, 1933 Tate; Presented by Mr and Mrs Robert Lewin through the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1987 Jean (Hans) Arp, Untitled (Collage with Squares Arranged according to the Laws of Chance), 1917 MOMA New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn