Details
JEAN (HANS) ARP (1886-1966)
Poupée
with the Succession Jean Arp stamp twice (on the reverse)
paper collage, frottage and pencil on card
1034 x 414 in. (27.2 x 11 cm.)
Executed in 1964-1966
Provenance
The artist's estate.
Piero Dorazio Collection, Todi, and thence by descent to the present owner.
Literature
S. Grandini, Jean Arp, Pensieri, poesie, disegni, collages, Lugano, 1976, no. 18, n.p. (illustrated).
Special notice
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.
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Lot Essay

We thank the Fondation Arp, Clamart, for their help cataloguing this work.

je suis une poupée.
mais une âme
me viendrait bien à propos
pourquoi ne suis-je pas une chanson?
pourquoi n'ai-je pas d'ailes?
n'y a-t-il personne
qui veut me donner au moins
une traîne d'argent?
une traîne d'argent
un ruisseau qui murmure derrière moi.
ma tête est en porcelaine.
sur ma tête un chapeau en porcelaine
ne serait pas exagéré.
oui, il serait aussi nécessaire
qu'une croix sur une cloche.
je suis pauvre.
je suis nue.
et que ne m'a-t-on pas déjà promis.

I am a doll.
but a soul
would come well to me
why am i not a song why don't I have wings?
there is no one
who wants to give me at least
a silver trail?
a silver trail
a stream that whispers behind me.
my head is made of porcelain
on matte a porcelain hat
would not be an exaggeration.
yes, it would also be necessary
than a cross on a bell.
I am poor.
I follow naked.
and what have I not already been promised.

From Jean Arp, Pensieri, poesie, disegni, collages by Sergio Grandini (Lugano, 1976) whereupon the present lot is illustrated alongside the above poem.

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