Hauser & Wirth’s first exhibition devoted to Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889 – 1943), one of the most important artists of the 20th-century avant-garde, launches online on June 11, 2020. Challenging conventional boundaries, Sophie Taeuber-Arp asserted art’s relevance to daily life, working across disciplines, from works on paper, painting, textiles, and sculpture, to design and architecture, as well as dance and performance.

Sophie Taeuber-Arp

The 30 works, dating from 1916 to 1942, are presented alongside photography and material from the Arp Foundation (Stiftung Arp e.V.) archives. Her radical multidisciplinary approach was a constant thread throughout the distinct periods of her life and work, from her marionettes and iconic ‘Tête Dada’ (1920), to her architectural interiors and reliefs.

Born in Davos in Switzerland, Taeuber-Arp studied fine and applied arts in Munich before moving to Zurich in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I. During this time, she met Hans Arp, who was to become her husband and emerged as a key protagonist of the Dada movement, performing at the legendary Cabaret Voltaire. Her circle included Hugo Ball, Tristan Tzara, Marcel Janco, Richard Huelsenbeck, and Emmy Hennings, whose shared creativity was forged as a reaction against the senselessness of the war and as a way of exploding the boundaries of the traditional concept of art.

Under the umbrella of Hauser & Wirth’s new global philanthropic and charitable initiative #artforbetter, we are donating 10% of gross profits from sales of all works in the online exhibitions to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization. https://www.hauserwirth.com/