Modern Art + Design presents an extensive collection with Arman

Arman (Armand Pierre Fernandez)

After finishing school Arman (born 1928 in Nice as Armand Pierre Fernandez) moved to Paris to study archaeology and oriental art. However, in 1953, having returned to Nice, he decided to dedicate himself to abstract art and began collaborating with Yves Klein, something that would turn out to be of great importance to his artistic development. After a misspelling of his name in an exhibition catalogue at legendary Galerie Iris Clert in Paris, where the last letter ”d” in his name was missing, Arman decided to sign his works ”Arman” thereafter.

At the end of the 1950s he began working with sculptures, first in the series Accumulations, using everyday objects, and then in Poubelles, which were made from rubbish.

In 1960 he was one of the founders, together with Jean Tinguely and Daniel Spoerri, amongst others, of the Nouveau Réalisme movement. Later on César, Niki de Saint Phalle and Christo would also join. The group were against the Art Informel of the time and would become the French equivalent of the British and American Pop Art movement.

› 570 Arman "Liberté de Clinton" Estimate 50 050 – 60 060 EUR

› 577 Arman "Guns controlled" Estimate 12 513 – 15 015 EUR

During the 1960s Arman travelled to New York for the first time and exhibited at both Cordier-Warren Gallery and at MoMA. He continued to explore sculpture in a variety of series including Coupes (sawed and sliced objects), Colères (smashed and broken objects), Combustions (burned objects) and Inclusioni (assemblages of objects contained in polyester resin).

In the years that followed his work was shown at both the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, in 1964, and at the 1968 Venice Biennale. In the seventies he created assemblages using concrete and car parts in a collaboration with the carmaker Renault. In 1973 he became an American citizen and moved permanently to New York.