Sophie Taeuber-Arp

Sophie Taeuber-Arp was a pioneer of 20th century abstract geometric art. Her versatile practice spanned painting, sculpture, textile design and dance, with her work challenging the boundaries that separated fine art from craft and design. Through her multi-disciplinary work, Taeuber-Arp wanted to ‘make the things we own more beautiful'.

Born in 1889, Taeuber-Arp grew up in Switzerland and initially trained in textile design and embroidery at the School of Applied Arts in Saint Gallen. She went on to study different artistic techniques in Germany, but the outbreak of World War I led her to return to Switzerland.

In 1915 she attended Rudolf von Laban’s influential school for Expressionist dance. That year she also met artist and poet Jean Arp, who she went on to work with alongside developing a romantic relationship. They were both a part of the Dada movement, and Taeuber-Arp performed her choreographies at the celebrated Cabaret Voltaire.

Alongside her own artistic practice, Taeuber-Arp taught textile design at the School of Applied Arts in Zurich from 1916 to 1929. In 1918, she was commissioned by the school's director to design marionettes for a modern adaptation of the 18th century commedia dell’arte play King Stag. The stylised, tiny wooden figures had a playful element that remained throughout her work.

Some of Taeuber-Arp's best-known pieces are her Dada Heads, a set of wooden heads she created in 1920. Another key commission Taeuber-Arp received was to design the interior of the Aubette, a cultural centre in Strasbourg.

In 1928, she designed the home and studio she shared with her husband in Meudon, near Paris, which became a meeting place for artists, writers and intellectuals. Taeuber-Arp went on to join Cercle et Carré and Abstraction-Création in the 1930s — two groups both devoted to abstraction.

Her final years were spent in the South of France, which she had fled to when the Nazis invaded Paris. In 1942, she was able to cross over to Zurich but tragically died the following year from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.

Taeuber-Arp’s last works were a series of pencil and ink drawings on paper called Construction géométrique (Geometric Construction). On her approach to art, Taeuber-Arp noted, ‘Only when we go into ourselves and attempt to be entirely true to ourselves will we succeed in making things of value'.

Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943)

Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943)