Jean Arp
“11 Configurations”
11 wood engravings by Jean Arp. Poem by Arp. Text by Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia; Introduction by Max Bill (All in French)
Thin square folio: 10.25 x 10.75 inches in original wrappers
Complete and in full
First edition, hand-numbered #74 of 200
Allianz-Verlag, Zurich, 1945
Very good condition: spine ends and tips somewhat toned and with some separation; hinges starting, scattered light toning to contents, small bookseller ticket on verso of front blank
Letter of Authenticity
Jean Arp
Turning his back on the increasingly modernized turn-of-the-century society, Arp created biomorphic works whose organic, amoeboid forms highlighted his fascination with the physiological processes of procreation, growth and death, and counteracted the rectilinear structures of Cubism. Arp studied the mineral, vegetable, and animal worlds for inspiration, documenting the evolution of an imaginary world. Combined with his late bronze sculptures from the 1950s, these works sought to give form to natural forces – clotting, hardening, congealing and fusing – all of which were symbols of eternal cycles in nature for Arp.