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Constellation

1932
Jean (Hans) Arp (French (born Germany), 1886–1966)

The notion of constellation was critical to Jean Arp’s artistic imagination. This word also identifies both the subject matter and the method of composition used in an important series of his artworks of the early 1930s. The Constellations are reliefs in rectangular formats with simplified, gently curving shapes lacking any internal structure. Arp drew these shapes on paper or cardboard, then passed the templates to a skilled carpenter to cut in wood using a bandsaw—a method that put the artist’s own emotive contribution at a remove and resulted in a smooth, anonymous touch. Arp then arranged those chunky wooden forms to evoke celestial bodies floating in arbitrary configurations. The monochrome white palette gives them an appropriately ethereal presence


Object Details

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