English Notes (Continuation) Sophie TAEUBER-ARP 1889-1943 COMPOSITION A CINQ CERCLES, CARRÉ ET RECTANGLE, 1931 Moreover, the painting dates from the time when the art of Sophie Taeuber-Arp takes off from the accumulated experience of her many styles and media (gouaches, tapestries and embroidery - already mentioned - as well as tablecloths, pearl jewelry, lamps, and much else) into a period of full mastery. In 1926-1927, she created part of the decor of the Brasserie de l'Aubette in Strasbourg, and the following year she designed plans for her studio-home in Meudon following the Bauhaus principles. In the thirties, she created compositions based on cut-off circles in relief on a black background. The architectural structure of the present canvas, with its geometrical figures in pure colors on a uniformly black background and smooth texture, is reminiscent of previous paintings designed as murals. However, the painting has a symbolic feel: it represents the future: thanks to the circular form, for Sophie Taeuber-Arp the symbol of life, which she uses here five times - a projection into becoming. In 1949, some time after the death of Sophie, Arp wrote: “Sophie dreamt of innumerable stories about circles, a royal circle, blue like the sky, protecting powerful imaginary circles. The bright awakening of a circle that breathes. The echo of a pure circle. Circles echoing each other […] A circle from time immemorial. The provenance of the work is exceptional, beginning with its purchase by well-known dealer in primitive art René Rasmussen. For him, Composition à cinq cercles, carré et rectangle was one of Sophie Taeuber-Arp's masterpieces, and told the woman with whom he spent his last years that the painting symbolized for him “an expression of esthetic perfection”. *Today, Fondation Arp. Fig. 1: covers of three issues of Cercle et carré. Literature : 16 June - 17 September 1978, Paris, Musée national d'art moderne, Abstraction-Création; 1986-87, Stuttgart, Strasbourg, Paris, Minneapolis, Boston, San Francisco, Arp (Jean Arp et Sophie Taeuber by Gabriele Mahn); 15 December 1989 - 18 March 1990, Paris, Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris, 30 March - 13 May 1990, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne, Sophie Taeuber (text by Greta Stroeh).