Lot 202 Dα

Hans Arp and Will Grohmann first met during the 1920s through the dancer Mary Wigman, with whom Sophie Taeuber had appeared on stage during her dance training with Rudolf von Laban. Grohmann was impressed by Wigman's expressive style of dance and supported her in relocating from Berlin to Dresden. An ongoing exchange developed between Arp and Grohmann and the critic visited the artist, who lived in the French town of Meudon from 1926, on several occasions. Their contact endured throughout the War, which Arp, having been ostracized by the Nazis, was forced to spend in exile in the south of France. During the 1950s Grohmann wrote repeatedly about Arp who, for his part, was impressed by Grohmann's clear grasp of his work.
While visiting his friend Arp in Meudon, Grohmann was given this exquisite bronze sculpture, for which he subsequently thanked Arp in a letter: “My dear Hans Arp, your beautiful sculpture is on my desk and brings joy to my heart. I brought it across the border undetected in my suitcase, and as I nonchalantly unpacked it as if it were a packet of Nescafé, the onlookers almost fell over in shock, and Annemie declared that she never knew Arp was not only such a magnificent sculptor, but also such a very special and dear person. It's an opinion I share, and when I was with Curt [Valentin] it became doubly clear to me how lucky I am to have known you for so long. Your gift was a real surprise to me, because I never would have dared to think we might ever have reached this level of friendship. The joy is therefore all the greater, so thank you […].” (Will Grohmann writing to Hans Arp, letter dated 23 May 1956, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart/Will Grohmann Archive, quoted from: Dresden 2012-3, catalogue volume p. 87).