English Notes Sophie TAEUBER-ARP 1889-1943 COMPOSITION A CINQ CERCLES, CARRÉ ET RECTANGLE, 1931 Born Taeuber and married to Arp, the art of Sophie Taeuber-Arp is distinctive in its total commitment to geometric figures. In 1915, as she finished her studies at the school of applied arts in Munich, Hans Arp wrote a fairly accurate description of the first works of the woman he was to marry in 1922: “In December 1915, I met Sophie Taeuber in Zurich, when she had just liberated herself from conventional art.” “She showed me drawings, tapestries, and embroidery that used vertical and horizontal shapes exclusively. The greatness and purity of her work, the surprising use of rectangles, influence me.” He also wrote: “These works are huge buildings made of lines, surfaces, shapes, and colors. They attempt to approach the eternal, the inexpressible above mankind.” What Arp had felt at that time, historians and critics were to confirm later when an analysis of her work as a whole - that she was “abstract”, “immediately and totally.” This powerful commitment to abstraction naturally allied her with the most innovative artists of her time. Art publications in the early part of the 20th century was marked by a growing trend, especially during the Dada period, towards a plethora of small journals supporting new currents and that allow artists, art dealers, collectors, and museums to communicate. The list of all the reproduced works of Sophie Taeuber-Arp shows her strong presence and her determination to promote abstract painting. In 1930, she participated in the exhibit of the movement Cercle et Carré (figure 1) at the Galerie 23, rue La Boétie, which brought together for the first time Mondrian, Kandinsky, Pevsner, Vantongerloo, and Arp. This exceptional exhibit met with almost no response, attracted few visitors, few sales, and insignificant or mocking articles. Then, under the auspices of Vantongerloo and Auguste Herbin, Cercle et Carré evolved into a new movement in 1931 known as Abstraction-Création. Abstraction-Création left a deeper mark on its time as it brought together the entire group of “dispersed international abstract artists”. Conferences and exhibits, as well as the journal of the same name, relayed the message in Europe and America to propagate the great renunciation of the representational. The work on offer today, Composition à cinq cercles, carré et rectangle from 1931, was painted exactly at this time and bears witness to those fertile and feverish years. See continuation to the next lot