Arman (November 17, 1928 – October 22, 2005) was a French-born American artist. Born Armand Fernandez in
Nice, France
Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...
, Arman was a painter who moved from using objects for the ink or paint traces they leave (''cachets'', ''allures d'objet'') to using them as the artworks themselves. He is best known for his ''Accumulations'' and destruction/recomposition of objects.
Early life and education
Arman's father, Antonio Fernandez, an antiques dealer from Nice, was also an amateur artist, photographer, and
cellist
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...
. From his father, Arman learned
oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...
and
photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
. After receiving his bachelor's degree in philosophy and mathematics in 1946, Arman began studying at the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs in Nice. He also studied
judo
is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...
at a police school in Nice, where he met
Yves Klein
Yves Klein (; 28 April 1928 – 6 June 1962) was a French artist and an important figure in post-war European art. He was a leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by art critic Pierre Restany. Klein w ...
and
Claude Pascal
Claude Pascal (Paris, February 19, 1921 – Paris, February 28, 2017) was a French composer.Marc Honegger, ''Dictionnaire de la musique: Tome 2, Les Hommes et leurs œuvres. L-Z.'' ed. Bordas 1979, p. 834. ()
After studying at the Conservatoire ...
. The trio bonded closely on a subsequent
hitch-hiking tour around Europe.
Completing his studies in 1949, Arman enrolled as a student at the
École du Louvre in Paris, where he concentrated on the study of archaeology and Asian art. In 1951, he became a teacher at the Bushido Kai Judo Club in
Madrid, Spain. During this time he also served in the French military, completing his tour of duty as a medical orderly during the
Indo-China War.
Early career
![ArmanCelliTalAviv](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/ArmanCelliTalAviv.jpg)
Early on, it was apparent that Arman's concept of the accumulation of vast quantities of similar objects was to remain a significant component of his art. He had originally focused more attention on his
abstract paintings, considering them to be of more consequence than his early accumulations of
rubber stamps. Only when he witnessed viewer reaction to his first ''Accumulation'' in 1959 did he fully recognize the power of such art. In 1962, he began welding together ''Accumulations'' of similar kinds of metal objects, such as axes.
Inspiration and name change
Inspired by an exhibition for the German Dadaist
Kurt Schwitters
Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist who was born in Hanover, Germany.
Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including dadaism, constructivism, surrealism, poetry, sound, pain ...
in 1954, Arman began working on ''Cachets'', his first major artistic undertaking. At his third solo exhibition held in Paris's Galerie
Iris Clert in 1958, Arman showed some of his first 2D accumulations he called ''Cachets''. These rubber stamp marks on paper and fabric proved a success and provided an important change of course for the young artist's career.
At the time, he was signing only with his first name as an homage to
Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inclu ...
, who also signed his works with his first name, "Vincent". In 1957, Arman chose to change his name from "Armand" to "Arman". On January 31, 1973, upon becoming a citizen of the United States, he took the American civil name, "Armand Pierre Arman".
[Arman chronology](_blank)
/ref> Nevertheless, he continued to use "Arman" as his public persona.
Evolution of work
From 1959 to 1962, Arman developed his most recognizable style, beginning with his two most renowned concepts: ''Accumulations'' and ''Poubelles'' (French for "trash bins"). ''Accumulations'' were collections of commonplace and similar objects which he arranged within transparent polyester
Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include natural ...
castings, or within Plexiglas cases. His first welded ''Accumulations'' were created in 1962.
The ''Poubelles'' were collections of strewn refuse. In 1960, he filled the Iris Clert Gallery in Paris with trash, creating ''Le Plein'' (''The Full'') as a counterpoint to an exhibition called ''Le Vide'' (''The Void'') at the same gallery two years earlier by his friend Yves Klein
Yves Klein (; 28 April 1928 – 6 June 1962) was a French artist and an important figure in post-war European art. He was a leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by art critic Pierre Restany. Klein w ...
.
In October 1960, Arman, Yves Klein
Yves Klein (; 28 April 1928 – 6 June 1962) was a French artist and an important figure in post-war European art. He was a leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by art critic Pierre Restany. Klein w ...
, François Dufrêne
François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis.
People with the given name
* Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters"
* Francis II of France, Kin ...
, Raymond Hains, Martial Raysse
Martial Raysse (born 12 February 1936 in Golfe-Juan) is a French artist and actor. He lives in Issigeac, France. He holds the record for the most expensive work sold by a living French artist.
Biography
Raysse was born in a ceramicist family in ...
, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely, Jacques Villeglé
Jacques Villeglé, born Jacques Mahé de la Villeglé (27 March 1926 – 6 June 2022) was a French mixed-media artist and affichiste famous for his alphabet with symbolic letters and decollage with ripped or lacerated posters. He was a membe ...
, and art critic and philosopher Pierre Restany
Pierre Restany (24 June 1930 – 29 May 2003), was an internationally known French art critic and cultural philosopher.
Restany was born in Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda, Pyrénées-Orientales, and spent his childhood in Casablanca. On returning ...
founded the Nouveau Réalisme
Nouveau réalisme (French: new realism) refers to an artistic movement founded in 1960 by the art critic Pierre Restany and the painter Yves Klein during the first collective exposition in the Apollinaire gallery in Milan. Pierre Restany wrot ...
group. Joined later by Cesar Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol
* ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt
* César Award, a French film award
Places
* Cesar, Portugal
* Ces ...
, Mimmo Rotella
Domenico "Mimmo" Rotella (Catanzaro, 7 October 1918 – Milan, 8 January 2006) was an Italian artist considered an important figure in post-war European art. Best known for his works of décollage and psychogeographics, made from torn advert ...
, Niki de Saint Phalle
Niki de Saint Phalle (; born Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle; 29 October 193021 May 2002) was a French-American sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author of colorful hand-illustrated books. Widely noted as one of the few female monume ...
, and Christo, the group of young artists defined themselves as bearing in common their "new perspective approaches of reality". They were reassessing the concept of art and the artist for a 20th-century consumer society by reasserting humanistic ideals in the face of industrial expansion. Arman also became affiliated with the ZERO
0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation
Positional notation (or place-value notation, or positional numeral system) usually denotes the extension to any base of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system (or ...
art movement based in Germany.
In 1961, Arman made his debut in the United States, the country which was to become his second home. During this period, he explored creation via destruction. The ''Coupes'' (''Cuts'') and the ''Colères'' (''Angers'') featured sliced, burned, or smashed objects arranged on canvas, often using objects with a strong "identity" such as musical instruments (mainly violins and saxophones) or bronze statues.
Arman and Warhol
Arman can be seen in Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
's film ''Dinner at Daley's'', a documentation of a dinner performance by the Fluxus
Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...
artist Daniel Spoerri that Warhol filmed on March 5, 1964. Throughout the portrait-screen-test film, Arman sits in profile, looking down, appearing to be entranced in his reading, seemingly unaware of Warhol's camera, only making small gestures, rubbing his eyes, and licking the corner of his mouth. He remained silent, eyes gazing over the pages of what seemed to be a newspaper, in this four-minute, 16mm
16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...
black-and-white reel. Warhol owned two of Arman's ''Poubelles'' and another accumulation called ''Amphetamines'', which were sold at Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...
auction of the Andy Warhol Collection in May 1988.
Move to New York City
Fascinated with the scene in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, Arman took up part-time residency there from his home in Nice in 1961, after his first exhibition at the Cordier Warren Gallery. In the city, he met Marcel Duchamp
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...
at a dinner given by the artist and collector William Copley. First living at the Chelsea Hotel and later in Church street, while keeping a studio in Bowery
The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. "B ...
, then in TriBeCa, Arman began work on large public sculptures.
There were varied expressions of the ''Accumulations'', including tools, watches, clocks, furniture, automobile parts, jewelry, and musical instruments in various stages of dismemberment. Musical instruments, specifically the strings and bronze, through his collaboration with a foundry in Normandy, France
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, became a major theme in Arman's work.
Of Arman's ''Accumulations'', one of the largest is ''Long Term Parking'', which is on permanent display at the Château de Montcel in Jouy-en-Josas, France. Completed in 1982, this high sculpture consists of 60 mostly French cars set in of concrete. Just as ambitious was his 1995 work '' Hope for Peace'', which was specially commissioned by the Lebanese government to commemorate 50 years of their military's service. Standing in once war-torn Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
, the monument consists of 83 tanks and military vehicles.
Personal life
In 1953, Arman married electronic music composer Eliane Radigue Eliane can refer to:
Éliane
* Éliane a French feminine given name
** Éliane, the name for Hill A1 in the 1954 battle of Dien Bien Phu taken by Colonel General Nguyễn Hữu An
* Pierre Éliane (1955), French singer and Carmelite friar
Eliane
I ...
and had two daughters, Marion (1951) and Anne (1953) and one son, Yves Arman
Yves may refer to:
* Yves, Charente-Maritime, a commune of the Charente-Maritime department in France
* Yves (given name), including a list of people with the name
* ''Yves'' (single album), a single album by Loona
* ''Yves'' (film), a 2019 Fre ...
(1954–1989). In 1971, he married Corice Canton, with whom he had one daughter, Yasmine (1982) and one son, Philippe (1987). In 1989, he had his sixth and last child, Yves Cesar Arman, son of Carrole Cesar.
After Arman's death in New York in 2005, some of his ashes were buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris in 2008.
Selected exhibitions and awards
1960s
1964
*''Arman'', Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Holland
*''Arman'', Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
1965
*''Arman'', Museum Hans Lange, Krefeld, Germany
1966
*''Arman'', Palais de Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
*''Arman'', Musée de la Ville, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
1967
*''Arman'', Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy
1969
*''Arman: Accummulations Renault'' (traveling exhibition):
**Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Holland
**Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France
**Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
**Humlebaek, Denmark
**Kunsthalle, Berlin, Germany
**Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Germany
**Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
**Städtische Kunstammlungen, Ludwigshafen, Germany
**Kunsthaus, Zürich, Switzerland
**Amos Anderson Taidemuseo, Helsinki, Helsingfors, Finland
1970s
1970
*''Arman'', Modern Art Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
1974
*''Arman'', Salles romanes du Cloître Saint-Trophime, Musée Réattu
Musée Réattu (Reattu Museum) is an art museum in Arles, housing paintings, including works by Arles-born painter Jacques Réattu, drawings by Pablo Picasso, Picasso, as well as sculptures and a large collection of photographs.Michelin TravelMu ...
, Arles, France
*''Arman: Selected Works 1958-1974'', La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, California; *Fort Worth Art Museum, Texas
1975
*''Arman: Objets Armés 1971-1974'', Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France
1976
*''Arman'', Artcurial auction house, Paris, France
1977
*''Arman: Paintings and Sculptures'', Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kansas
1978
*''Arman, Veranneman Foundation'', Kruishoutem, Belgium
1979
*''Arman: Rétrospective, Centre d'Art et de Culture'', Flaine, France
1980s
1980
*''Arman'', Veranneman Foundation, Kruishoutem, Belgium
1981
*''Arman'', Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, Germany
1982
*''Arman: Parade der Objekte: Retrospektive 1955-1982'' (traveling exhibition):
**Kunstmuseum, Sammlung Sprengel, Hanover, Germany
**Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, Germany
**Tel Aviv Museum, Israel
**Kunsthalle, Tübingen, Germany
**Musée Picasso, Château Grimaldi, Antibes, France
**Musée d'Art Contemporain Dunkerque, France
1984
*''Arman o L’Oggetto come Alfabeto: Retrospettiva 1955-1984'', Museo Civico delle Belle Arti, Lugano, Switzerland
*''Arman'', Museo d'Arte Moderna, Parma, Italy
1985
*''Arman'', Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan; Walker Hill Art Center, Seoul, Korea
*''Arman Aujourd’hui'', Musée de Toulon, France
1986
*''Arman: Retrospective'', Wichita State University, Ulrich Museum of Art, Kansas
*Arman, Veranneman Foundation, Kruishoutem, Belgium
1990s
1991
*''Arman in Italy'', Fondazione Mudima, Milan, Italy
*''Arman Sculpture'', Contemporary Sculpture Center, Tokyo, Japan
*''Arman: A Retrospective 1955 - 1991'', The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York; The Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, Michigan
1992
*''Il Giro di Arman'', Associazione Culturale Italo-Francese, Bologna, Italy
1994
*''Le Ceramica di Arman'', Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza, Faenze, Italy
1995
*''Arman, Musée Royal de Mariemont'', Mariemont-Chapelle, Belgium
1996
*''Arman: The Exhibition of International Sculpture Master'', Modern Art Gallery, Taichung, Taïwan
1998
*''Arman'', Musée du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France
1999
*''Arman'', Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel
*''Arman'', Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo, Brazil
21st Century
2000
*''Arman—20 stations de l'objet'', Couvent des Cordeliers, Paris, France
*''Arman, Fundaciò "la Caixa,"'' Barcelona, Spain
*''Arman, la traversée des objets'', Palazzo delle Zitelle, Venice, Italy
*''Arman'', Museo de Monterrey, Mexico
*''Arman'', National Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan
2000-01
*''Arman: Werke auf Papier'', Ludwig Museum, Coblenz, Germany
2001-02
*''Arman: Through and Across Objects'', Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida
2002
*''Arman: Works on Paper'', Villa Haiss Museum, Zell, Germany
2003
*Awarded 2003 Sport Artist of the Year, The American Sport Art Museum and Archives, United States Sports Academy, Daphne, Alabama
*''Arman: Arman'', Museum of Contemporary Art of Teheran, Teheran, Iran
*''Arman'', Marlborough New York City
2004
*Omaggio ad Arman Arte Silva, Sergno
*''Arman—Peinture'', Marlborough Monaco, Monaco
2005
*''Hommage a Arman'', Galerie Anne Lettree, Paris
2006
*''Arman—Subida al Cielo'', Musée d' Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain Nice, France
*''Arman—A Tribute to Arman'', Marlborough Gallery, New York
*''Arman—No Comment'', Galerie Georges-Phillippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris
2008
*''Arman'', Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin
2010-2011
*''Arman'', a retrospective, Centre Georges Pompidou, Oct. 2010, Paris
*''Arman'', retrospective, Museum Tinguely, Feb. 2011, Basel, Switzerland
*''Arman-in les Baux de Provence'', July-Oct. 2011, Les Baux-de-Provence
2013
* ''Cycles,'' Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York
Public collections in the United States (selected)
*Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California
*Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DCImages of artwork by Arman in the Hirshhorn Museum collection, Smithsonian Institution
*Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, Kansas
*Harvard Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
*The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
*Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
*Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, Missouri
*Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
*Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
*Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York
*The Museum of Modern Art, New York
*Allen Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio
*Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, Washington
*Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida
Selected press
*
ttps://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/24/arts/art-in-review-arman-a-survey-1954-2002.html Johnson, Ken, "Art in Review: Arman-- 'A Survey: 1954-2002'," ''The New York Times,'' 01/24/13.
Bibliography
*Chalumeau, Jean-Luc and Pierre Restany (preface), ''Arman: Shooting Colors'', Paris, France: Éditions de la Différence, Autre Musée/Grandes Monographies, 1989
*Kuspit, Donald. ''Monochrome Accumulations 1986—1989''. Stockholm: A. H. Graphik, 1990
*Otmezguine, Jane and Marc Moreau, in collaboration with Corice Arman. ''Estampes''. Paris: Éditions Marval, 1990
*Durand-Ruel, Denyse. ''Arman - Vol. II: 1960 à 1962''. Paris: Éditions de la Différence, 1991
*Durand-Ruel, Denyse. ''Arman - Vol. III: 1963 à 1965''. Paris: Éditions de la Différence, 1994
*Bouhours, Jean-Michel (director), ''Arman'' exhibition catalogue, Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 2010
References
External links
Arman original websiteArman new site*
Foundation A.R.M.A.N. websiteOral history interview with Arman, 1968 Apr. 22from the Smithsonian
Archives of American Art
The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...
Arman in Les Baux de Provence (English)virtual museum*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arman
1928 births
2005 deaths
People from Nice
20th-century American painters
American male painters
21st-century American painters
20th-century American sculptors
American male sculptors
20th-century French painters
20th-century French male artists
20th-century American male artists
French male painters
21st-century French painters
21st-century French male artists
21st-century American male artists
20th-century French sculptors
French male sculptors
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
École du Louvre alumni
French contemporary artists
Nouveau réalisme artists
20th-century American printmakers
20th-century French printmakers