Jean Arp
The White Leaves1946

On view:

Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3

No image

Artist or Maker: Jean Arp
Germany, also active France and Switzerland, 1886-1966
Title: The White Leaves
Date Made: 1946
Medium: Painted wood relief
Dimensions: 21 1/2 × 27 1/2 in. (54.61 × 69.85 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of The Maria and Conrad Janis Living Trust
Accession Number: M.2024.55.5
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: Modern Art
Curatorial Notes: As early as 1917, Jean Arp began creating wood reliefs out of curvilinear, biomorphic forms. Working with a carpenter, Arp carved organic shapes reminiscent of teardrops, foliage, or amoebas, which he then painted and layered to create works that straddle the line between painting and sculpture. For Arp, an abstract constellation like The White Leaves echoed the mutability of nature’s generative processes, making it a more truthful representation of reality than illusionistic art. Seeking to supersede rational thought in favor of this higher reality, Arp considered these compositions as analogous to “the inconceivable multiplicity with which nature arranges a flower species in a field.”

Lauren Hanson

On view:

Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3

No image

Artist or Maker: Jean Arp
Germany, also active France and Switzerland, 1886-1966
Title: The White Leaves
Date Made: 1946
Medium: Painted wood relief
Dimensions: 21 1/2 × 27 1/2 in. (54.61 × 69.85 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of The Maria and Conrad Janis Living Trust
Accession Number: M.2024.55.5
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: Modern Art
Curatorial Notes: As early as 1917, Jean Arp began creating wood reliefs out of curvilinear, biomorphic forms. Working with a carpenter, Arp carved organic shapes reminiscent of teardrops, foliage, or amoebas, which he then painted and layered to create works that straddle the line between painting and sculpture. For Arp, an abstract constellation like The White Leaves echoed the mutability of nature’s generative processes, making it a more truthful representation of reality than illusionistic art. Seeking to supersede rational thought in favor of this higher reality, Arp considered these compositions as analogous to “the inconceivable multiplicity with which nature arranges a flower species in a field.”

Lauren Hanson