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Manicured Relief

A work made of painted wood.
© 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

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  • A work made of painted wood.

Date:

1930

Artist:

Jean (Hans) Arp
French, born Germany (Alsace), 1886–1966

About this artwork

In 1917 Jean (Hans) Arp began creating wooden reliefs from curvilinear pieces of painted and layered wood. Starting with individual forms based on abstract drawings, he worked with a carpenter to cut amoeba-like shapes and then assembled them into composite structures that hold a hybrid position between painting and sculpture. The title, Manicured Relief, suggests that the top form’s gray-green extremities might represent painted fingernails, which became popular among women in the mid-1920s. The feminine association also carries over to the work’s first owner: Mary Reynolds, an artist and avant-garde bookbinder who, like Arp, was based in Paris in the 1930s.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Modern Art

Artist

Jean (Hans) Arp

Title

Manicured Relief

Place

France (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1930

Medium

Painted wood

Inscriptions

none

Dimensions

33 × 45.7 × 7 cm (13 × 18 × 2 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Frank B. Hubachek

Reference Number

1951.200

Copyright

© 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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