Hans when he spoke in German and Jean when in French, either way, Mr Arp had some wise words to share.
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the streams buck like rams in a tent
whips crack and from the hills come the crookedly combed
shadows of the shepherds.
black eggs and fools’ bells fall from the trees.
thunder drums and kettledrums beat upon the ears of the donkeys.
wings brush against flowers.
fountains spring up in the eyes of the wild boar.
– Dada poetry lines from his poem ‘Der Vogel Selbdritt‘, Jean / Hans Arp – first published in 1920; as quoted in Gesammelte Gedichte I (transl. Herbert Read), p. 41
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As the thought comes to me to exorcise and transform this black with a white drawing, it has already become a surface.. .Now I have lost all fear, and begin to draw on the black surface.
– Hans Arp’s quote on drawing on the black surface; as quoted in Search for the Real, Hans Hofmann, Addison Gallery of modern Art, 1948
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I hereby declare that on February 8th, 1916, Tristan Tzara discovered the word DADA. I was present with my twelve children when Tzara pronounced for the first time this word which has aroused in us such legitimate enthusiasm. This took place at the Café Terrasse in Zurich, and I wore a brioche in my left nostril. I am convinced that this word has no importance and that only imbeciles and Spanish professors can be interested in dates. What interests us is the Dada spirit and we were all Dada before the existence of Dada. The first Holy Virgins I painted date from 1886, when I was a few months old and amused myself by pissing graphic impressions. The morality of idiots and their belief in geniuses makes me shit.
– ‘Declaration’, Jean (Hans) Arp, October 1921
| Born | 16 September 1886 Strasbourg, German Empire |
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| Died | 7 June 1966 (aged 79) Basel, Switzerland |
| Nationality | German-French |
| Education | Académie Julian |
| Known for | Sculpture, painting |
