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Lot Essay
Arp participated in the first Surrealist exhibition at the Galerie Pierre in 1925. He later recounted how, "[The Surrealists] encouraged me to ferret out the dream, the idea behind my plastic work, and to give it a name. For many years, roughly from 1919 to 1931, I interpreted most of my works. Often the interpretation was more important for me than the work itself. Often it was hard to render the content in rational words. Here are a few of the titles, interpretations, poems of my 'dreamed plastic works' of those years: The Eggboard, Paolo and Francesca, Bird Mask. These titles were often abbreviated little stories..." (J. Arp, op. cit., exh. cat., 1958, p. 14).
The title of the present work refers to the story of Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini, thirteenth century lovers whom Dante relegated to the second circle of Hell in his Inferno. Arp was intrigued by their tale and the impassioned drama of their story was perfectly suited to his Surrealist aesthetic.
Francesca was the daughter of Guido Vecchio da Polenta, Lord of Ravenna, and Paolo was the third son of Malatesta da Verrucchio, Lord of Rimini. Around 1275 Francesca was married for political reasons to Gianciotto, the physically deformed second son Malatesta da Verrucchio. Ultimately a love affair developed between Francesca and Gianciotto's younger brother, Paolo, but the betrayed husband discovered them in an amorous embrace and killed them both. Legend suggests that Paolo and Francesca "conquered" Hell through their love because they remained together. However, their togetherness was part of their punishment: in Dante's version the ever-silent, weeping Paolo was surely not happy with their state, and Francesca coolly alluded to Paolo with the impersonal "that one" or "this one", never mentioning him by name. In fact she held a certain distaste for Paolo: the dishonorable manner of her death continued to humiliate her. His presence served as a constant reminder of her shame and of the reason they were in Hell. Their fleeting pleasure together in lust became their own eternal torment in Hell.
As René Gaffé has discussed of the present work:
Poésie peinte, ont dit très justement de leurs oeuvres, les artistes surréalistes... Ils ont prospecté un terrain nouveau, celui de l'humour. Faut-il citer... les reliefs de Hans Arp, farcis de guets-apens où les virgules voisinent avec les nombrils et les moustaches? J'en possède quelques-uns tel 'Paolo et Francesca' qui, libérant deux étranges silhouettes, affirme la liberté du createur vis-à-vis de son oeuvre tirée de son cerveau, façonnée de ses mains.
Surrealist artists appropriately described their works as 'Painted Poetry'... They had probed a new field, the one of humor. Do we need to cite...the relief paintings of Hans Arp, crammed with ambushes, where the commas mingle with the belly buttons and moustaches? I own a few myself, such as Paolo and Francesca, which, releasing two strange silhouettes, expresses the freedom of its creator towards his work, extracted from his brains and fashioned by his hands. (R. Gaffé, op. cit., 1963, p. 97-98)
The title of the present work refers to the story of Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini, thirteenth century lovers whom Dante relegated to the second circle of Hell in his Inferno. Arp was intrigued by their tale and the impassioned drama of their story was perfectly suited to his Surrealist aesthetic.
Francesca was the daughter of Guido Vecchio da Polenta, Lord of Ravenna, and Paolo was the third son of Malatesta da Verrucchio, Lord of Rimini. Around 1275 Francesca was married for political reasons to Gianciotto, the physically deformed second son Malatesta da Verrucchio. Ultimately a love affair developed between Francesca and Gianciotto's younger brother, Paolo, but the betrayed husband discovered them in an amorous embrace and killed them both. Legend suggests that Paolo and Francesca "conquered" Hell through their love because they remained together. However, their togetherness was part of their punishment: in Dante's version the ever-silent, weeping Paolo was surely not happy with their state, and Francesca coolly alluded to Paolo with the impersonal "that one" or "this one", never mentioning him by name. In fact she held a certain distaste for Paolo: the dishonorable manner of her death continued to humiliate her. His presence served as a constant reminder of her shame and of the reason they were in Hell. Their fleeting pleasure together in lust became their own eternal torment in Hell.
As René Gaffé has discussed of the present work:
Poésie peinte, ont dit très justement de leurs oeuvres, les artistes surréalistes... Ils ont prospecté un terrain nouveau, celui de l'humour. Faut-il citer... les reliefs de Hans Arp, farcis de guets-apens où les virgules voisinent avec les nombrils et les moustaches? J'en possède quelques-uns tel 'Paolo et Francesca' qui, libérant deux étranges silhouettes, affirme la liberté du createur vis-à-vis de son oeuvre tirée de son cerveau, façonnée de ses mains.
Surrealist artists appropriately described their works as 'Painted Poetry'... They had probed a new field, the one of humor. Do we need to cite...the relief paintings of Hans Arp, crammed with ambushes, where the commas mingle with the belly buttons and moustaches? I own a few myself, such as Paolo and Francesca, which, releasing two strange silhouettes, expresses the freedom of its creator towards his work, extracted from his brains and fashioned by his hands. (R. Gaffé, op. cit., 1963, p. 97-98)