Arman (November 17, 1928 – October 22, 2005) was a French-born American artist.[1] Born Armand Fernandez in Nice, France, Arman was a painter who moved from using objects for the ink or paint traces they leave (cachets, allures d'objet) to using them as the artworks themselves. He is best known for his Accumulations and destruction/recomposition of objects.
Arman's father, Antonio Fernandez, an antiques dealer from Nice, was also an amateur artist, photographer, and cellist. From his father, Arman learned oil painting and photography.[2] After receiving his bachelor's degree in philosophy and mathematics in 1946, Arman began studying at the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs in Nice.[3] He also studied judo at a police school in Nice, where he met Yves Klein and Claude Pascal. The trio bonded closely on a subsequent hitch-hiking tour around Europe.[2]
Completing his studies in 1949, Arman enrolled as a student at the École du Louvre in Paris,[2] where he concentrated on the study of archaeology and Asian art. In 1951, he became a teacher at the Bushido Kai Judo Club in Madrid, Spain.[2] In 1952, he served in the French military, completing his tour of duty as a medical orderly during the Indo-China War.[2]
Early careeredit
Early on, it was apparent that Arman's concept of the accumulation of vast quantities of similar objects was to remain a significant component of his art.[3] He had originally focused more attention on his abstract paintings, considering them to be of more consequence than his early accumulations of rubber stamps. In 1962, he began welding together Accumulations of similar kinds of metal objects, such as watches or axes.[1]
Inspiration and name changeedit
Inspired by an exhibition for the German Dadaist Kurt Schwitters in 1954, Arman began working on Cachets, his first major artistic undertaking.[2] At his third solo exhibition held in Paris's Galerie Iris Clert in 1958, Arman showed some of his first 2D accumulations he called Cachets. These rubber stamp marks on paper and fabric proved a success and provided a change of course in his career.[2]
At the time, he was signing only with his first name as an homage to Van Gogh, who also signed his works with his first name, "Vincent". In 1957, Arman chose to change his name from "Armand" to "Arman". On January 31, 1973, upon becoming a citizen of the United States, he took the American civil name, "Armand Pierre Arman", but continued to use "Arman" as his public persona.[2]
Evolution of workedit
From 1959 to 1962, Arman developed his most recognizable style, beginning with his two most renowned concepts: Accumulations and Poubelles (French for "trash bins"). Accumulations were collections of commonplace and similar objects which he arranged within transparent polyester castings, or within Plexiglas cases. His first welded Accumulations were created in 1962.[2][1]
The Poubelles were collections of strewn refuse. In 1960, he filled the Iris Clert Gallery in Paris with trash, creating Le Plein (The Full) as a counterpoint to an exhibition called Le Vide (The Void) at the same gallery two years earlier by his friend Yves Klein.[3]
In 1961, Arman made his debut in the United States, the country which was to become his second home. During this period, he explored creation via destruction. The Coupes (Cuts) and the Colères (Angers) featured sliced, burned, or smashed objects arranged on canvas, often using objects with a strong "identity" such as musical instruments (mainly violins and saxophones) or bronze statues.[3]
Arman and Warholedit
Arman can be seen in Andy Warhol's film Dinner at Daley's, a documentation of a dinner performance by the Fluxus artist Daniel Spoerri that Warhol filmed on March 5, 1964. Throughout the portrait-screen-test film, Arman sits in profile, looking down, appearing to be entranced in his reading, seemingly unaware of Warhol's camera, only making small gestures, rubbing his eyes, and licking the corner of his mouth. He remained silent, eyes gazing over the pages of what seemed to be a newspaper, in this four-minute, 16mm black-and-white reel. Warhol owned two of Arman's Poubelles and another accumulation called Amphetamines, which were sold at Sotheby's auction of the Andy Warhol Collection in May 1988.[2]
Move to New York Cityedit
Fascinated with the scene in New York City, Arman took up part-time residency there from his home in Nice in 1961, after his first exhibition at the Cordier Warren Gallery.[2] In the city, he met Marcel Duchamp at a dinner given by the artist and collector William Copley. First living at the Chelsea Hotel and later in Church street, while keeping a studio in Bowery, then in TriBeCa, Arman began work on large public sculptures.[2]
There were varied expressions of the Accumulations, including tools, watches, clocks, furniture, automobile parts, jewelry, and musical instruments in various stages of dismemberment. Musical instruments, specifically the strings[4] and bronze, through his collaboration with a foundry in Normandy, France, became a major theme in Arman's work.[2]
Of Arman's Accumulations, one of the largest is Long Term Parking,[5][6] which is on permanent display at the Château de Montcel in Jouy-en-Josas, France. Completed in 1982, this 60-foot (18 m) high sculpture consists of 60 mostly French cars set in 40,000 pounds (18,000 kg) of concrete. Just as ambitious was his 1995 work Hope for Peace,[7] which was specially commissioned by the Lebanese government to commemorate 50 years of their military's service. Standing in once war-torn Beirut, the 32-metre (105 ft) monument consists of 83 tanks and military vehicles.[2]
Personal lifeedit
In 1953, Arman married electronic music composer Eliane Radigue and had two daughters, Marion (1951) and Anne (1953) and one son, Yves Arman (1954–1989). In 1971, he married Corice Canton, with whom he had one daughter, Yasmine (1982) and one son, Philippe (1987). In 1989, he had his sixth and last child, Yves Cesar Arman, son of Carrole Cesar.
After Arman's death in New York in 2005, some of his ashes were buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris in 2008.[8]
Arman Sculpture, Contemporary Sculpture Center, Tokyo, Japan
Arman: A Retrospective 1955 - 1991, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York; The Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, Michigan
1992
Il Giro di Arman, Associazione Culturale Italo-Francese, Bologna, Italy
1994
Le Ceramica di Arman, Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza, Faenze, Italy
1995
Arman, Musée Royal de Mariemont, Mariemont-Chapelle, Belgium
1996
Arman: The Exhibition of International Sculpture Master, Modern Art Gallery, Taichung, Taïwan
1998
Arman, Musée du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France
1999
Arman, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel
Arman, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo, Brazil
Arman: Fragmentation--Concerto for 4 Pianos, John Gibson Gallery, New York
21st Centuryedit
2000
Arman—20 stations de l'objet, Couvent des Cordeliers, Paris, France
Arman, Fundaciò "la Caixa," Barcelona, Spain
Arman, la traversée des objets, Palazzo delle Zitelle, Venice, Italy
Arman, Museo de Monterrey, Mexico
Arman, National Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan
2000-01
Arman: Werke auf Papier, Ludwig Museum, Coblenz, Germany
2001-02
Arman: Through and Across Objects, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida
2002
Arman: Works on Paper, Villa Haiss Museum, Zell, Germany
2003
Awarded 2003 Sport Artist of the Year, The American Sport Art Museum and Archives, United States Sports Academy, Daphne, Alabama
Arman: Arman, Museum of Contemporary Art of Teheran, Teheran, Iran
Arman, Marlborough New York City
2004
Omaggio ad Arman Arte Silva, Sergno
Arman—Peinture, Marlborough Monaco, Monaco
2005
Hommage a Arman, Galerie Anne Lettree, Paris
2006
Arman—Subida al Cielo, Musée d' Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain Nice, France
Arman—A Tribute to Arman, Marlborough Gallery, New York
Arman—No Comment, Galerie Georges-Phillippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris
2008
Arman, Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin
2010-2011
Arman, a retrospective, Centre Georges Pompidou, Oct. 2010, Paris
Arman, retrospective, Museum Tinguely, Feb. 2011, Basel, Switzerland
Arman-in les Baux de Provence, July-Oct. 2011, Les Baux-de-Provence
2013
Cycles, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York
Public collections in the United States (selected)edit
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC[10]
Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, Kansas
Harvard Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, Missouri
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Allen Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio
Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, Washington
Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida
Selected pressedit
Galenson, David, "Arman and the Art of the Object," Huffington Post, 01/25/11.
Johnson, Ken, "Art in Review: Arman-- 'A Survey: 1954-2002'," The New York Times, 01/24/13.
Bibliographyedit
Chalumeau, Jean-Luc and Pierre Restany (preface), Arman: Shooting Colors, Paris, France: Éditions de la Différence, Autre Musée/Grandes Monographies, 1989 ISBN 978-2729104672
Kuspit, Donald. Monochrome Accumulations 1986—1989. Stockholm: A. H. Graphik, 1990 ISBN 9789179709518
Otmezguine, Jane and Marc Moreau, in collaboration with Corice Arman. Estampes. Paris: Éditions Marval, 1990
Durand-Ruel, Denyse. Arman - Vol. II: 1960 à 1962. Paris: Éditions de la Différence, 1991
Durand-Ruel, Denyse. Arman - Vol. III: 1963 à 1965. Paris: Éditions de la Différence, 1994
Bouhours, Jean-Michel (director), Arman exhibition catalogue, Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 2010
Referencesedit
^ abc"Arman biography". rogallery.com. April 17, 2002. Archived from the original on January 1, 2003.
^Gian Luca Margheriti (30 July 2015). 101 tesori nascosti di Milano da vedere almeno una volta nella vita (in Italian). Newton Compton Editori. pp. 154–. ISBN 978-88-541-8612-5.
^Images of artwork by Arman in the Hirshhorn Museum collection, Smithsonian Institution Archived March 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
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