Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Movement and Balance

by Stephen Kurz, François Morellet, Astrid von Asten

The only woman to be represented on a Swiss banknote (the 50-franc note), Sophie Taeuber-Arp was one of the twentieth century's most innovative artists, in painting, sculpture, textiles, dance, architecture and puppetry. Often occupying this role of the only "woman"--in exhibitions, or when socializing among Dadaists and Concrete artists and elsewhere--Taeuber-Arp nevertheless went about her diverse activities as though gender obstacles were immaterial, and steadily built up a massive body of work whose consistent qualities are warmth, clarity and liveliness. Sophie Movement and Balance is the most complete survey of the artist's work available in any language to date. Packed with full-color illustrations of her work in all media, from her pre-Concrete abstractions to her fabrics, watercolors, canvases, reliefs and her wonderful marionettes, as well as a visual chronology with archival photographs of Taeuber-Arp posing in her costumes, or next to her works with her husband Hans (Jean) Arp, this volume demonstrates the exemplary adventurousness of her career.

160 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2010