A unique, versatile artist of the early avant-garde: Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s rich oeuvre for the first time presented in its full range in a comprehensive monograph. Released parallel to the exposition with the same title Sophie Taeuber-Arp Today is Tomorrow, 23/8/2014-16/11/2014 at Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland. > Agenda
Swiss artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943) ranks among the pioneers of the early twentieth century’s classical avant-garde. In addition to studying dance at Rudolf von Laban’s dance school, she was educated as an artist at the School of Applied Arts in St. Gallen, Switzerland; at Wilhelm von Debschitz’s teaching and experimental workshop in Munich; and at the School of Applied Arts in Hamburg. After becoming involved with the Dadaists, she taught textile design at the Zurich School of Applied Arts, then moved to France to live and work in her self-designed studio home until she had to flee from the German occupation in 1940. Remarkably versatile and immensely gifted, Taeuber-Arp covers in her work the entire range of the modernist movement, applied and fine art, dance, architecture, interior design, and teaching.
Accompanying a retrospective exhibition at Aargauer Kunsthaus in Switzerland and Kunsthalle Bielefeld in Germany, this book shows Taeuber-Arp’s creativity and her mastery of material, shape, and colour, as well as her inventiveness and interdisciplinary thinking and approach. It features an abundance of works drawn from private collections that have either not yet been shown to the public or not displayed for many years, and the accompanying essays from leading scholars treat Taeuber-Arp’s work in both fine and applied art in equal measure.
Richly illustrated with three hundred images -the majority in colour - Sophie Taeuber-Arp—Today is Tomorrow is the most comprehensive book on this extraordinary artist ever published in English.
AUTHORS & EDITORS
RAHEL BEYERLE, born 1986, studied art history, law, and political sciences at the University of Zürich. She has been a project and research assistant for the Sophie Taeuber-Arp exhibition at Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, since 2013 and is also working at the Swiss Institute for Art Research in Zürich.
–
SARAH BURKHALTER, born 1980, studied art history, comparative literary studies and sociology in New York and Geneva. She has been appointed as head of the Swiss Institute for Art Research’s branch office in Lausanne in 2013.
–
MEDEA HOCH, born 1970, studied art history and Italian literature and linguistics at the universities of Zürich and Bologna. She has been working in art education at Hallen für Neue Kunst Schaffhausen, Switzerland, since 1999 and as a collaborator for the edition of Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s letters since 2014.
–
WALBURGA KRUPP, born 1959, studied German literature and linguistics, Jewish studies, art history, and philosophy at the universities of Bonn and Cologne. She obtained her PhD with a dissertation on Sophie Taeuber-Arp. She has been curator at Stiftung Hans Arp & Sophie Taeuber-Arp in Rolandseck, Germany, 1990-2012 and a scientific collaborator for the edition of Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s letters since 2014.
–
BRIGITTE MAIER, born 1962, graduated in architecture from Technische Universität Berlin. She is working as a freelance architect and has been carrying out extensive research on Sophie Taeuber-arp’s oeuvre, and especially her work in architecture and interior design, since 2000 .
–
FRIEDRICH MESCHEDE, born 1955, studied religion and art history at the universities of Würzburg and Münster in Germany. He has been director of Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany, since 2011.
–
SIGRID SCHADE, born 1954, studied art history, German literature and linguistics, and cultural sciences in Tübingen, Paris, and London. She has been working as a research assistant, lecturer, and professor at various universities in Germany and since 2002 as a professor of art and cultural sciences at Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK.
–
THOMAS SCHMUTZ, born 1968, studied art history, political and media sciences in Bern, Basel and Chapel Hill, NC (USA). He has been a curator and deputy director at Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland, since 2011.
–
MADELEINE SCHUPPLI, born 1965, studied art history at the universities of Geneva, Hamburg, and Zürich. She has been a curator at Kunsthalle Basel 1996-2000 and director of Kunstmuseum Thun, Switzerland, 2000-2007. She has been appointed as director of Aargauer Kunsthaus in Aarau, Switzerland, in 2007.
–
MAIKE STEINKAMP, born 1974, studied art history and German and Romance literary studies at the universities of Bonn and Parma. She has been working for museums in Bonn and Berlin and as a research assistant at the University of Hamburg’s institute of art history. In 2009 she was a visiting professor at Smith College in Northampton, MA (USA). Since 2012 she has been curator of Stiftung Hans Arp & Sophie Taeuber-Arp in Rolandseck, Germany.
–
RUDOLF SUTER, born 1955, studied art history, archaeology, philosophy, and general history at the universities of Basel and Vienna. He has been working in art education and as a freelance art critic since 1998. He obtained his PhD with a dissertation on Jean Arp (2007).
This book provides a very clear insight into the artist/designer, her work, her time and colleagues. Very well written and compiled contents it is a pleasure to see the broad interest Taeuber showed to design. Despite of the large letter type used, I read the book in one shot.
As an intern trained at the Kunstgewerbe Schule in Zurich myself and taking the position engaging as intermediate generation between decorative art and industrial design, I know that world well. As leading example, she made the everlasting discussion if designers can be occupied as artist with fine art, what positions women could take and her place working next to a well-known husband artist, totally redundant.
Taeuber’s courageous statements -for example- shown in the smallest works as jewellery of glass beadwork with monumental, geometric shapes and colours are still refreshing nowadays. Pushing aside the Art Nouveau style as a precursor of Modernism that emphasized function over form, Taeuber looked for the form, developing more and more as sculptor and painter she found the fusing of abstract form and function. Developing far beyond the boundaries of the decorative, applied arts and fine arts her vision and life was entirely education, journalism, architecture, interior design and arts and crafts.
A book all should read to understand how contemporary designers could develop into the artists today.
Angela van der Burght
