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Jean Arp (Hans Arp)  1886-1966

Jean Arp (Hans Arp) Constellation According to the Laws of Chance circa 1930
© DACS, 2002
Constellation According to the Laws of Chance  circa 1930
Constellation selon les lois du hasard

Painted wood
object: 549 x 698 mm frame: 772 x 910 x 100 mm
relief

Bequeathed by E.C. Gregory 1959

T00242

Arp felt that modern society had become over-dependent on reason. He hoped to redress the balance by developing an art that consciously evoked the forms and laws of nature without copying them. The rounded shapes in this relief may suggest clouds or planets, while the ‘laws’ of the title are those of flux and chance that characterise the ‘inaccessible order’ of nature. Arp’s interest in chance extended to the making of his reliefs. He ordered them from a craftsman, but left his instructions ambiguous in order to encourage the craftsman's free interpretation.

 (From the display caption December 2005)