Arman (November 17, 1928 – October 22, 2005) was a French and American artist. Born Armand Fernandez in

Nice, France Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million

, 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 Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

. From his father, Arman learned

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

and

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating 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 empl ...

. 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, combat sport, 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 Encyc ...

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 wa ...

and Claude Pascal. The trio bonded closely on a subsequent

hitch-hiking Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing, autostop or hitching) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking individuals, usually strangers, for a ride in their car or other vehicle. The ride is usually, but not always, free. Signaling ...

tour around Europe. Completing his studies in 1949, Arman enrolled as a student at the

École du Louvre The École du Louvre () is a selective institution of higher education and prestigious ''grande école'' located in the Aile de Flore of the Louvre Palace in Paris, France. It is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology ...

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 Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. In 1952, he served in the French military, completing his tour of duty as a medical orderly during the

Indo-China War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Repub ...

Early career

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 stamp A rubber stamp is an image or pattern that has been carved, molded, laser engraved, or vulcanized onto a sheet of rubber. Rubber stamping, also called stamping, is a craft in which some type of ink made of dye or pigment is applied to a rub ...

s. In 1962, he began welding together ''Accumulations'' of similar kinds of metal objects, such as watches or 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. He was born in Hanover, Germany, but lived in exile from 1937. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including Dadaism, Constructivism (a ...

in 1954, Arman began working on ''Cachets'', his first major artistic undertaking. At his third solo exhibition held in Paris's Galerie

Iris Clert Iris Clert (; Iris Athanasiadi; 1917 – 1986) was a Greek-born art gallery owner and curator. She owned the Iris Clert Gallery in Paris from 1955 to 1971. During its tenure, her gallery became an avant-garde hotspot in the international art scene ...

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 a change of course in his 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 is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...

, 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", but 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 one or two ester linkages 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 some natura ...

castings, or within

Plexiglas Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is a transparent thermoplastic, used as an engineering plastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and bra ...

cases. His first welded ''Accumulations'' were created in 1962. The ''Poubelles'' were collections of strewn refuse. In 1960, he filled the

Iris Clert Gallery The Iris Clert Gallery ( in French) was a single-room art gallery named after its Greeks, Greek owner and curator, Iris Clert. It was located on 3 :fr:Rue des Beaux-Arts, rue des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. It was open from 1955 to 1976 and dur ...

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

. In October 1960, Arman,

François Dufrêne François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; ...

Raymond Hains Raymond Hains (9 November 1926 – 28 October 2005) was a French visual artist and a founder of the Nouveau réalisme movement. In 1960, he signed, along with Arman, François Dufrêne, Yves Klein, Jean Tinguely, Jacques Villeglé and P ...

Martial Raysse Martial Raysse (born 12 February 1936) 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 Vallauris and ...

Daniel Spoerri Daniel Spoerri (; 27 March 1930 – 6 November 2024) was a Romanian-born Swiss visual artist and writer. He is considered to be an important figure among the artists within the so-called "second wave" of the Pop art movement. Spoerri is best kno ...

Jean Tinguely Jean Tinguely (22 May 1925 – 30 August 1991) was a Swiss sculptor best known for his kinetic art sculptural machines (known officially as Métamatics) that extended the Dada tradition into the later part of the 20th century.Chilvers, Ian; Gl ...

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 member ...

, and art critic and philosopher

Pierre Restany Pierre Restany (22 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 A ''nouveau'' ( ), or ''vin (de) primeur'', is a wine which may be sold in the same year in which it was harvested. The most widely exported ''nouveau'' wine is French wine Beaujolais ''nouveau'' which is released on the third Thursday of ...

group. Joined later by

Cesar Cesar or César may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''César'' (film), a 1936 French romantic drama * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt Places * Cesar, Portugal * Cesar Department, Colombia * Cesar River, in Colombia * Cesar ...

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 sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author of colorful hand-illustrated books. Widely noted as one of the few female monumental sculp ...

, and

Christo Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935–2009), known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, were artists noted for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations, often large landmarks a ...

, 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. Adding (or subtracting) 0 to any number leaves that number unchanged; in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and compl ...

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 (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

'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 performance art, art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finishe ...

artist

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 mm and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, ...

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 multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

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 (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, 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, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...

at a dinner given by the artist and collector William Copley. First living at the

Chelsea Hotel The Hotel Chelsea (also known as the Chelsea Hotel and the Chelsea) is a hotel at 222 West 23rd Street (Manhattan), 23rd Street in the Chelsea, Manhattan, Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Built between 1883 and 1884, the hot ...

and later in Church street, while keeping a studio in

Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighbourhood, neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City, New York. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row (Manhattan), Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th ...

, then in

TriBeCa Tribeca ( ), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Str ...

, 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, 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 Jouy-en-Josas () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is located in the southwestern outer suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris, on the departmental border with Essonne. Jouy- ...

, 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 ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, the monument consists of 83 tanks and military vehicles.

Personal life

In 1953, Arman married electronic music composer

Éliane Radigue Éliane Radigue (born January 24, 1932) is a French composer. She began working in the 1950s and her first compositions were presented in the late 1960s. Until 2000 her work was almost exclusively created with the ARP 2500 modular synthesizer and ...

and had two daughters, Marion (1951) and Anne (1953) and one son, Yves Arman (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 on October 22, 2005, some of his ashes were buried at the

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

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 1973 Arman, Selected Activities. John Gibson Gallery, New York 1974 *''Arman'', Salles romanes du Cloître Saint-Trophime, Musée Réattu, 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 *Arman: Fragmentation--Concerto for 4 Pianos, John Gibson Gallery, New York

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

Galenson, David, "Arman and the Art of the Object," ''Huffington Post,'' 01/25/11.

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. 22
from 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 Washing ...

Arman in Les Baux de Provence (English)virtual museum
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arman 1928 births 2005 deaths Artists from Nice Painters from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur 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