Sophie TAEUBER-ARP

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Status, price and artist’s estimate Sophie TAEUBER-ARP

Price of a drawing and watercolour: €2,000 – €100,000

Estimate of a print: 100 – 5,000 €.

If you wish to have a drawing signed by Sophie Taeuber Arp appraised, our experts are at your disposal for a free valuation.

An eclectic artistic background

Born in Davos, Switzerland, in 1889 to a pharmacist father and an artistically talented mother, Sophie Taeuber pursued a multi-faceted education. She was first educated at the St. Gallen School of Arts and Crafts, then in Munich where she was introduced to dance, and in 1912 she joined the Hamburg School of Applied Arts.

The young woman is nourished by the different contemporary currents that she discovers during her multi-faceted training, thus opening herself up to diverse and varied artistic areas of reflection.

His move to Zurich in 1915 marked the beginning of a fruitful career. Although figurative art through the creation of still lifes and sculpted objects were the result of his first creative impulses, the exaltation of simple forms quickly enabled him to find a place for permanent artistic expression.

Loyal to the rhythm of her time

For her, performance and scenery were a vast field of expression, following on from her association with the Dada circle. Nevertheless, from 1916 she decided to devote herself fully to the plastic arts and became a professor at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts until 1929. From then on, she explored the paths of a more geometric aesthetic, the gateway to abstraction, of which she had her own definition

Settled in Zurich, where she met the man she married in 1921, Sophie Taeuber rubbed shoulders with avant-garde circles, which enabled her to forge her own expressive line.

Her husband Jan Arp,  a painter, sculptor and poet of his time, was the instigator of the famous Dada artistic movement, which permeated the intellectual and literary fields at the beginning of the 20th century.

Moreover, she was involved in a fruitful artistic dialogue with the Dutch painter, architect and theoretician Theo van Dœsburg, and defined what was to become Concrete Art, in response to the abstract art movement, which was considered pretentious.

Taeuber – redefining boundaries

Although Taeuber can be compared to Mondrian in terms of formal simplification, she is more concerned with the dimension and plastic responses of abstraction, to the detriment of metaphysical reflections.

His artistic practice responds to this with abstract compositions whose vocabulary remains simple. Geometrisation takes precedence over the figurative of the early days, which is evaded.

Her singular aesthetic aim also takes shape in space, with the abstract decoration she creates at the Aubette hotel complex in Strasbourg with Theo van Dœsburg and Jan Arp.

The artist died tragically of carbon monoxide poisoning at the age of 54, leaving an inconsolable husband whose artistic production was affected and suspended for almost three years.

Recognising Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s signature

Like many artists, Sophie Taeuber-Arp did not sign all of his works. However, you will find below an example of the signatures to give you an idea. Variations of these signatures do exist, do not hesitate to contact one of our experts to formally authenticate a signature.

Appraise and sell a painting by Sophie Taeuber-Arp

If you own a Sophie Taeuber-Arp painting or any other sculpture, ask for a free estimate via our online form.

You will then be contacted by a member of our team of experts and auctioneers to give you an independent view of the market price of your painting. In the event of a sale, our specialists will also advise you on the various options available to sell your work at the best price.