Torn-Up Woodcut

Sculptor, painter and poet Jean Arp, alternatively known as Hans Arp, was born in 1886 in Strassburg, Germany, but raised in Alsace, France. Showing an early proclivity for the arts, Arp began his artistic training in 1900 near his hometown before going on to study in Weimar, Germany, and later enrolling at the Académie Julian in Paris in 1908. The following year he moved to Switzerland, where he founded Der Moderner Bund (The Modern Alliance), an early indication of his investment in the avant-garde modernist movement of the early 20th century. Through his travels over the following years, Arp became acquainted with fellow avant-garde artists working in Europe, including Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Wassily Kandinsky, Amadeo Modigliani and Pablo Picasso, among others.

Zurich, Switzerland