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Somersault

© Estate of Jean Arp / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Germany

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

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© Estate of Jean Arp / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Germany

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Jean Arp / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Germany

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Estate of Jean Arp / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Germany

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

Jean (Hans) Arp

French, born Germany, 1886-1966

Somersault, 1942

bronze

Edition: edition of 5

overall: 13 3/4 x 12 1/2 x 9 inches (34.92 x 31.75 x 22.86 cm)

Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Bunshaft, 1964

RCA1964:4.5

More Details

Class

Sculpture

Work Type

Cast (sculpture)

Information may change due to ongoing research.Glossary of Terms

During the 1930s, Jean (Hans) Arp began to create freestanding sculptures that were often later paired with abstract sculptural bases made of different materials. It is believed that the donor who gifted this work to the Albright-Knox, not the artist, paired it with Pedestal Column; while they are two distinct sculptures, they are always displayed together. This sculpture title, Somersault, is suggestive of the human body in motion and brings to light Arp’s desire to capture both stationary and moving objects.

Label from Artists in Depth: Arp, Miró, Calder, March 25, 2011–April 15, 2012

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Other Works by This Artist

Surrealism

Non loin du soleil, de la lune et des 'etoiles (Not far from the sun, the moon and the stars)
Jean (Hans) Arp
Non loin du soleil, de la lune et des 'etoiles (Not far from the sun, the moon and the stars) ,
Unbreakable Rabbit Drummer (Robert Cornell modification)
Joseph Cornell
Unbreakable Rabbit Drummer (Robert Cornell modification) ,
Époque des forêts (Age of Forests)
Max Ernst
Époque des forêts (Age of Forests) ,
A life-sized bronze abstract female nude holds her hands placed in front of her chest, as if cradling an invisible sphere. She appears to be perched on a tall chair, which supports and frames the figure from behind. The facial features on her flat, round head are angular. Her long, skinny body terminates in long legs bent at the knee. The figure’s feet rest on a narrow rectangular shaped stool at the sculpture’s base.
Alberto Giacometti
L'objet invisible (Mains tenant le vide) [Invisible Object (Hands Holding the Void)] ,
Wehgeweihtes Kind (Child Consecrated to Suffering)
Paul Klee
Wehgeweihtes Kind (Child Consecrated to Suffering) ,
Die Hese mit dem Kamm (The Witch with the Comb)
Paul Klee
Die Hese mit dem Kamm (The Witch with the Comb) ,
La Philosophie et la peinture de Rene Magritte (Volume I)
René Magritte
La Philosophie et la peinture de Rene Magritte (Volume I) ,
Contemplation de l'abime (Contemplation of the Abyss)
André Masson
Contemplation de l'abime (Contemplation of the Abyss) ,

No image available,
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André Masson
Crouching Woman ,
La Mer du Temps from Serie Or (The Sea of Time from the Gold Series)
Roberto Matta
La Mer du Temps from Serie Or (The Sea of Time from the Gold Series) ,
This painting features a beige-color room full of fantastical creatures performing music and acrobatics, and floating through the air. These colorful beings are shaped like musical instruments, insects, animals, and mermaids and interact with instruments, musical notes, a ladder, dice, unicycle, a shooting star, and other objects. A window at top right looks out onto a landscape, and beneath it is a table with a fish, a globe, and papers.
Joan Miró
Carnaval d'Arlequin (Carnival of Harlequin) ,
Femme et oiseaux dans la nuit (Woman and Birds in the Night)
Joan Miró
Femme et oiseaux dans la nuit (Woman and Birds in the Night) ,
Frosted Objects (of my Affection)
Man Ray
Frosted Objects (of my Affection) ,

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Kurt Seligmann
Slaying of Laius from the series Oedipus ,

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Kurt Seligmann
Study for "John without Land Cleaned by the Void" ,

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Kurt Seligmann
Study for "The Sphinx" ,

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Kurt Seligmann
Two illustrations for A Primitive like an Orb (poem by Wallace Stevens) ,
Two biomorphic forms sit side by side in the foreground of this abstract, dream-like landscape. The smaller form on the left includes a gray square with red sticks emerging from its left side. Narrow gray stalks support the blue and pink shapes that make up the taller form on the right, which casts a long shadow toward the top left corner of the painting. Nine small circular discs with white sides and blue surfaces appear scattered throughout the scene.
Yves Tanguy
Divisibilité indéfinie (Indefinite Divisibility) ,

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