Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 7

Fernandez Arman
Melody for Strings 1

1990

About the Item

Publisher GKM. Unframed. Edition of 120 ex. Signed and numbered. Free shipment worldwide. Arman explores reality. He strives to transform and sublimate artefacts into works of art. Everyday objects become poetry for the eye. Forks, women’s shoes, credit cards, bottle caps and revolvers. Cast, welded together or enclosed in plexiglass “vitrines”, these things are metamorphosed into a form of art that he calls “accumulations”. Starting in the late 1950s, Arman immersed himself whole-heartedly in these inventories of reality until he passed away in 2005. He collected and amalgamated piles of junk, pens, paint tubes, rubber stamps and much else. These accumulations became his hallmark, just as much as the sliced, burnt and sawn objects of his “tantrums”, ranging from violins and Roman gods to veteran motorbikes and telephones. Arman’s sculptures lent new dimensions to objects that already were perfect as they were. Armand Pierre Fernandez was born in Nice in November 1928. He developed his passion for artefacts in his father’s antique shop. At the age of 18, he studied at the Nice Academy of Art, but left three years later in protest against the conservative leadership. Now he set out on his own path, began to paint in earnest and, under the influence of Pollock, Schwitters and Duchamp, evolved his own idiosyncratic language of form and ideas. Initially, in the late 1950s, he painted abstract motifs. Then he turned his talents to sculpture, which in turn led to his breakthrough. After a catalogue entry at the legendary Galerie Iris Clert accidentally omitted the final ‘d’ from the artist’s name, he resolved that from that time on, he would sign his works simply ‘Arman’. When Yves Klein met Arman at a judo course in the autumn of 1949, there immediately arose a close affinity between the two men, who subsequently divided the world between them. Yves assumed responsibility for the spiritual world, Arman for the material. In 1960 they joined with César, Pierre Restany, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely and Rotella, among others, to form the Nouveaux Réalistes. This was also the year when Arman put together his much noticed show titled Plein (“Full up”), a neo•realist exhibition at Galerie Iris Clert. The installation consisted of a monumental heap of junk – trash piled from floor to ceiling in a manner reminiscent of Raymond Hains’ collage Slum Sculptures. Arman wrote, “The bow on the strings releases an explosion of sounds,” in the book Trio à cordes published by GKM Siwert Bergström nearly twenty years ago. The words are his own. The book is a tender homage to music and expresses the artist’s predilection for the tones of violin, cello and double bass. Lyrically orchestrated poems are conflated with ingenious detail images: multi-coloured violins and a delicately painted cello are but two of the motifs drawn against the straight lines of the score. The first steps towards collaboration with GKM Siwert Bergström came with an exhibition in Malmö, when Arman staged a “happening” in Malmö Concert Hall. This was followed by several exhibitions in Malmö, at the Stockholm Art Fair, at FIAC in Paris and at the Glyptoteket in Copenhagen. Contacts with GKM subsequently led to an exhibition of Arman’s works at the Lund Konsthall gallery with the support of Marianne Nanne-Bråhammar. This also included a happening. Arman died in October 2005 at the age of 76. For the last 30 years of his life he maintained two homes and studios, in New York and in Vence, in the south of France. His works featured in a total of almost 500 separate exhibitions during his lifetime. In addition to being well represented in museums around the world, he also created several works of art for public spaces, ranging from welded shopping carts, to clocks, double basses and cars stacked on top of each other. Among his best known are Hope for Peace in Beirut, À la République in the Elysée Palace in Paris, L’heure de tous and Consigne de vie outside Saint Lazare railway station in Paris. There is something animated in Arman’s work – a provocation, a challenge, an inner power in the things in which his art resides – that links the past to our own age, and casts the soul and the body as one.
  • Creator:
    Fernandez Arman (1928-2005, French)
  • Creation Year:
    1990
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 39.38 in (100 cm)Width: 27.56 in (70 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Malmo, SE
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU3287719172

More From This Seller

View All
Melody for Strings 2
By Fernandez Arman
Located in Malmo, SE
Publisher GKM. Unframed. Edition of 120 ex. Signed and numbered. Free shipment worldwide. Arman explores reality. He strives to transform and sublimate artefacts into works of art....
Category

1990s Contemporary Prints and Multiples

Materials

Screen

Eternel éte. 1998. Portfolio with 5 engravings.
By Corneille
Located in Malmo, SE
Corneille. Eternel éte. 1998. Portfolio with 5 engravings. Edition: 80 ex. Publisher GKM. Unframed. Signed, dated and numbered. Free shipment worldwide. Corneille, one of the found...
Category

1990s Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Screen

L'oiseau familier
By Corneille
Located in Malmo, SE
Publisher GKM. Unframed. Edition: 250 ex Paper: 300gr. Goya. Signed, dated and numbered. Corneille, one of the founders of the COBRA group, has passed away. He died in Paris on Sund...
Category

1990s Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Screen

Cosa si vede fuori
By Valerio Adami
Located in Malmo, SE
Publisher GKM. Unframed. Edition of 140 ex. Signed by the artist. Free shipment worldwide. Adami is the maestro of the unadulterated line,” writes the Swedish poet Lasse Söderberg i...
Category

1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Screen

Cosa si vede fuori
$1,615 Sale Price
26% Off
Free Shipping
Riding Boots
By Valerio Adami
Located in Malmo, SE
Published by edition GKM. Unframed. Edition: 140 ex. Signed by the artist. Free shipment worldwide. Adami is the maestro of the unadulterated line,” writes the Swedish poet Lasse ...
Category

1990s Contemporary Prints and Multiples

Materials

Screen

Amour partout
By Corneille
Located in Malmo, SE
Publisher GKM. Unframed. Edition: 200 ex Signed, dated and numbered. Corneille, one of the founders of the COBRA group, has passed away. He died in Paris on Sunday, 5 September 2010...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Screen

Amour partout
$3,230
Free Shipping

You May Also Like

Hate's Outta Date (Yellow)
By Harland Miller
Located in Bristol, GB
Screenprint Edition of 125 100 x 70 cm (39.4 x 27.6 in) Signed and numbered Mint, as issued Published by White Cube Since this item will be shipped directly from the consignor, the...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Screen

Garden of Dreams
By Eyvind Earle
Located in Greenwich, CT
Eyvind Earle's Garden of Dreams from 1990 is a traditional screen print on paper, 37 x 28" with framed dimensions of 48 x 38.5". Signed 'Eyvind Earle' lower right and numbered 164/2...
Category

20th Century Contemporary Prints and Multiples

Materials

Paper, Screen

Wildflowers - Screen Print by L. Rossi Garzione - Late 20th century
By Luigino Rossi Garzione
Located in Roma, IT
Hand signed and numbered. Edition of 150 prints. Excellent condition.
Category

Late 20th Century Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Screen

The Big Trees - I Grandi Alberi - Offset/Screen print by Ennio Pouchard - 1970s
By Ennio Pouchard
Located in Roma, IT
Offset and Screen Print realized by Ennio Pouchard in 1970s. Edition of 75. Good condition.
Category

1970s Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Screen

Homage to Frida Kahlo - Portrait with Scorpion (Hand Signed by Marina Abramović)
By Marina Abramovic
Located in New York, NY
Marina Abramovic Homage to Frida Kahlo - Portrait with Scorpion (Hand Signed by Marina Abramović), 2014 Silkscreen on 100% Silk (HAND SIGNED in indelible marker by Marina Abramovic) ...
Category

2010s Contemporary Mixed Media

Materials

Silk, Screen

Letter H - by Erté - 1976
By Erté
Located in Roma, IT
Letter H - from the suite Letters of the Alphabet is a contemporary artwork realized by Erté (Romain de Tirtoff). Lithograph and Screen Print. The artwork i...
Category

1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph, Screen

Recently Viewed

View All