Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2017.

Human Concretion

Artist Jean Arp (French, 1886 - 1966)

CultureFrench

Date1934

MediumMarble

Dimensions13 1/4 x 16 x 15 1/2 in. (33.7 x 40.6 x 39.4 cm)

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.3208

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 223

Label TextJean Arp French, 1886–1966 Human Concretion, 1934 Marble …the teachers seemed determined to spoil the visible and invisible world for me. They kept trying to make me copy, imitate. —Jean Arp Numbed by classical art training, which focused on the “everlasting copying of stuffed birds and withered flowers,” Jean Arp turned to nature itself, finding artistic inspiration “in seeds, stars, clouds, plants, animals, men.” He reduced these natural forms to their essential shapes and infused them with a kind of primal energy. With its smoothly lobed surfaces, Human Concretion seems strangely animate, a solid piece of stone that is somehow alive. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.3208 Exhibition History"The Nature of Arp: Sculptures, Reliefs, and Works on Paper," Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas, September 8, 2018 - January 6, 2019 and Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy, April 12 - September 2, 2019.Published ReferencesCatherine Craft, _The Nature of Arp_, (Dallas: Nasher Sculpture Center, 2018): cat. 44.