Sophie Taeuber-Arp ( * 1889 † 1943 )

Biography of Sophie Taeuber-Arp

"Art of Silence"

Sophie Taeuber-Arp (Sophie Henriette Gertrud Taeuber) was born on January 19, 1889 in Davos-Platz, Switzerland. She was the pioneer of abstract art, protagonist of Dadaism, textile designer and avant-garde dancer. She created multimedia works (collages) that narrowed the gap between visual and applied arts.

Sophie Taeuber attended drawing school and from 1906 to 1910 she studied textile design at the industrial school of St. Gallen. In 1910 she began studying at the Teaching and Experimental Studies of Applied and Free Art in Munich. She spent a semester at the School of Applied Arts in Hamburg and in 1914 finished her studies.

In 1915 Sophie Taeuber went to Zurich. There she joined the Swiss Werkbund and remained a member until 1932.

In 1916-29 she taught composition, weaving and knitting at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts, where she later became the head of the textile class. At that time she also began to study modern dance and also performed in the Cabaret Voltaire. In this Cabaret she later met her future husband Jean Arp. Jean Arp co-founded the Dada movement and always had a great impact on his wife's work.

In 1916, he joined the Dada movement. The Dadaists were revolutionaries who rejected the social value system and created non-dogmatic and paradoxical art.

The artist's experiences in textile design were very useful in designing works from geometric patterns and figures. He tried with his creations to undermine the balance of norms and rules deeply rooted in society. No gender, nationality or social class existed for the artist.

The messages he wanted to convey were models of perfect utopias. Bizarre impulses of social transformation, as well as combinations of visual art and performance of dance, movement and masks. "Art of silence", beautifying the world and striving to reach the inner reality.

During this time he created the Dada-heads. A series of wooden heads made of hats and adorned with geometrically painted faces. Later, Sophie Taeuber-Arp also turned to constructivism.

In 1926, Taeuber-Arp and her husband Jean Arp moved to Strasbourg, France, where they obtained French citizenship. In Strasbourg, Sophie Taeuber-Arp received numerous commissions to design the interiors of various houses and galleries. For this work she received the support of her husband and the Dutch De Stijl artist Theo van Doesburg.

In 1928 Sophie Taeuber-Arp moved with her husband to Paris, where they remained until 1940 and the Cercle et Carré (1930) and Abstraction-Création (1931-34) groups. His works in this period are tinged with surreal.

In the 30s, 40s produced years that polychrome and monochrome reliefs in wood "line images". The style was geometric and abstract. His work was elementary, simplified and consisted of three simple shapes - circle, square and rectangle. Spiritual beauty and sensual colors were the most significant features of Sophie Taeuber-Arp's work. "Composition" (1931), "Quatre espaces à croix brisée" (1932), "Lignes géométriques et ondoyantes" (1941).

He participated in several exhibitions: Artistes Suisses in the Galerie Vavin; in the Kunsthalle Bern; in the exhibition Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis in the Museum of Art Lucerne; in the Kunsthaus Zürich in the exhibition Zeitprobleme in der Schweizer Malerei und Plastik; in Constructivist Exhibition at the Kunsthalle Basel.

In 1937 she co-founded and edited an art magazine entitled "Plastique" with César Domela, AE Gallatin and LK Morris, which was published until 1939.

In 1942 Sophie Taeuber-Arp returned with her husband Jean Arp to Zurich, where she died on January 13, 1943 from carbon monoxide poisoning.

 

 ©ART-PRINTS-ON-DEMAND.COM

Wall art prints and famous paintings by Sophie Taeuber-Arp
To the top