Masque Oiseau
Date1968
MediumGold and nickel-plated brass multiple
Dimensions10 1/4 × 7 1/4 inches (26 × 18.4 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Dr. David M. Hillenbrand.
Object number2021.4.5
Copyright© 2024 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.
The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextJean Arp was an influential artist, renowned for his innovative career as an abstract artist and member of Dada. Dadaism was an avant-garde art movement that embraced irrationality and chaos over logic and reason. The horrors of World War I had led many artists to reject what they saw as the roots of the conflict—war time politics and capitalist and bourgeois sensibilities.
The Dadaist notion of chance was a key component of Arp’s work that played out in his biomorphic sculptures that for him were “born of themselves … I only have to move my hands.…The forms that then take shape offer access to mysteries and reveal to us the profound sources of life.” He typically titled his works only after they were completed. 'Masque Oiseau' playfully reveals both a bird-like shape with outstretched wings and a mask with two eye holes. This sculpture was cast posthumously from his original under the auspices of his estate, which was run by his widow Marguerite Hagenbach-Arp in 1968.
