Colonne à éléments interchangeables 1961

Colonne à éléments interchangeables

Composed of geometric and organic elements, Hans Arp’s Colonne à éléments interchangeables [Stele of Interchangeable Elements] stands 8.45 m high on a 96 × 96 cm base. An assemblage of three parts, each cast in concrete, the composition echoes the material of the buildings that frame it. Beyond material, the artwork further engages with the architecture’s mostly strict geometry. Through its cuboids it establishes a formal relationship with the carefully proportioned façades, while its organic elements accentuate through elegant contrast.

Like other artworks for the buildings and schoolyard, Arp’s stele emerged through close exchange between artists and architects involved in designing the educational complex under the direction of Hermann Baur. This led to the exceptionally successful interaction of art and architecture: as a staged setting, the architecture highlights the art while the art underscores the outstanding quality of the architecture.

Hans Arp

After marrying artist Sophie Taeuber in 1923, Hans Arp (*1886 Strasbourg–1966 Basel) and his wife lived in Paris before moving to Clamart near Meudon in 1926. His oeuvre comprises a large body of sculptural work in stone, wood, and concrete. He also engaged in drawing and painting characterized by abstraction, reduction, and organic forms. From 1931 to 1934 he was a member of the French artist group Abstraction-Création and collaborated regularly with other artists. In 1942 Arp fled with Taeuber from the Nazi regime to Zurich, where she died in 1943. In 1946 he returned to Clamart. After marrying Basel-born Marguerite Arp-Hagenbach, he spent extended stays in Basel, increasingly receiving international commissions, producing numerous architecture-related works, and was honored with major awards, e.g., Grand Prix National des Arts (Paris) in 1963 and the Carnegie Prize (Pittsburgh) in 1964.

Title: Colonne à éléments interchangeables
Date made: 1961
Artist: Hans Arp (1886 – 1966)
Materials: cement
Dimensions: 845 × 96 × 96 cm
Location: Allgemeine Gewerbeschule / Schule für Gestaltung Basel / Vogelsangstrasse
Mode of acquisition: Direct commission from the Baudepartement on the recommendation of architects
Hermann and Hans Peter Baur
Collection: Bau- und Verkehrsdepartement of the Canton of Basel-Stadt