Wood engraving, 1966

Edition : III/X

Publisher : Louis Broder (Paris)

Printer : Féquet & Baudier (Paris)

46.50 cm. x 36.50 cm. | 18.31 in. x 14.37 in. (paper)

30.00 cm. x 24.00 cm. | 11.81 in. x 9.45 in. (image)

Rare proof on parchment

The artwork we propose is taken from Arp's (1886-1966) last work, much sought after by collectors, Soleil Recerclé - with a title as mysterious as it is poetic - which brings together poems and illustrations by the artist. It is a woodcut, an ultra minority technique in the field of printmaking. Like the other plates in the series, Arp chooses indeterminate forms, drawing his inspiration from nature. At the center of the composition, a biomorphic, living form, so to speak, far, far away from geometric abstraction. This form has something profoundly indeterminate about it; it represents nothing but itself. It snakes, it evolves, it is an organism of its own, circumscribed in an oval shape, which reminds us of an egg, or why not a mandorla which surrounds the saints in religious paintings to signal their sacred status. Jean Arp called it the "earthly form". 
Organism, life, Earth.... Arp's project in Soleil Recerclé is to make visible things that are essential but difficult to apprehend. He leaves room for the viewer, who is also seduced by the colors, which are few in number as is often the case with Arp, but very subtle.
A work with a meditative dimension, Arp goes to the essential as much for the content as for the form, in a luminous and welcoming simplicity.

Certificate of authenticity
Very good condition
Handsigned by the artist in pencil

Ref : LCD4090