Hans Arp German and French poet, artist, graphic artist, sculptor. Date of Birth: 16.09.1886 Country: Germany

Biography of Hans Arp

Hans Arp was a German and French poet, artist, graphic designer, and sculptor. He was born in 1886 in Kiel, Germany, to a German father and an Alsatian mother. Arp studied at the Strasbourg School of Arts and Crafts and later attended the Academy of Julian in Paris in 1908.

In 1912, Arp met Wassily Kandinsky in Munich and worked on the almanac of expressionists called "The Blue Rider." He began to publish his poetry and in 1914, he met Max Ernst in Cologne and encountered influential artists such as Apollinaire, Picasso, Modigliani, and Sonia and Robert Delaunay in Paris.

In 1915, Arp became one of the founders of Dadaism in Zurich. He illustrated books for his fellow Dadaists Tristan Tzara, Benjamin Péret, and Richard Huelsenbeck. In 1917, he started to focus on sculpture. In 1920, Arp met El Lissitzky and Kurt Schwitters in Berlin.

In 1924, Arp moved to Paris and became associated with the Surrealists. He was also influenced by abstractionism. In 1925, he settled in Clamart, a town on the outskirts of Paris, with his wife Sophie Taeuber-Arp, who was also an artist. Arp wrote the screenplay for Hans Richter's film "Every Day Is a Day" (1929), in which he also appeared.

During World War II, from 1940 to 1946, Arp lived in Switzerland to escape the Nazis. Afterwards, he returned to Clamart. In 1959, he settled in Solduno, near Locarno. Throughout his career, Arp received numerous accolades and awards for his work. He won the Grand Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale in 1954 and was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1959. In 1961, he became a Knight of the Order of Literature and Art.

Arp's largest collection of works is housed in the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Strasbourg, which has a square named after the artist. A cultural center in Clamart and a street in the 13th arrondissement of Paris are also named after him. The Arp Foundation was established in Clamart in 1979 and obtained the status of a national museum in 2004. Arp's contributions to art were recognized with several prestigious awards, including the Carnegie Prize and the Goethe Prize from the University of Hamburg.