Jean ARP (1886 - 1966) - Lot 209

Jean ARP (1886 - 1966) Composition, circa 1960 Charcoal and watercolor. Signed upper right. A sketch on the back. Annotation by Hansjörg Gisiger on the back: "This drawing was given to me by Jean Arp during a visit to Meudon on March 8, 1965. He signed it in front of me, but according to his wife, upside down. The drawing must date from ../../60 / 8III65, Gisiger". 37 x 26 cm Provenance : - Collection of Swiss sculptor Hansjörg Gisiger. Presented by the artist on March 8, 1965. - Private collection, Paris. . "When I arrived in Paris shortly after the end of the war to spend a whole winter there for the first time, I found Jean Arp, not only the only artist I knew, but also the only person I knew to whom I could turn in the capital. He and his companion - who was not yet Madame Arp - received me with infinite kindness in their beautiful house in Meudon, and introduced me to members of their circle who they thought would be "useful" to me, which, of course, proved to be illusory. Arp, aware of my constant cash-flow worries, suggested I work for him in his studio, which I declined with a thousand precautions. I was still in the process of finding myself, my style and my means of expression, and the proximity of an accomplished master could only have been detrimental. I've always believed that in art, it's better to be a bad original than a good copy" (Gisiger, Et pourtant tout arrive, Mémoires, Lausanne, Éditions l'Âge d'homme, 1998, pp. 154-155).