Published to accompany the first retrospective of Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s work in the United States in 40 years, Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Living Abstraction presents a comprehensive survey of this multifaceted innovator’s wide-ranging body of work and establishes unequivocally her place in the pantheon of 20th-century abstract art. Taeuber-Arp’s background in the applied arts and dance, her involvement in the Zurich Dada movement, and her projects for architectural spaces were essential to her development of a uniquely versatile and vibrant abstract vocabulary. Through her artistic output and various professional alliances, Taeuber-Arp consistently challenged the historically constructed boundaries separating fine art from craft and design.

 

This richly illustrated catalogue explores the artist’s interdisciplinary and cross-pollinating approach to abstraction through some four hundred works, including textiles, beadwork, polychrome marionettes, architectural and interior designs, stained-glass windows, works on paper, paintings, and relief sculptures. 352 pp.; 435 illus.

 

Edited by Anne Umland and Walburga Krupp with Charlotte Healy. With contributions by Laura Braverman, Leah Dickerman, Briony Fer, Mark Franko, Maria Gough, Jodi Hauptman, Medea Hoch, Juliet Kinchin, Eva Reifert, Natalia Sidlina, T’ai Smith, Adrian Sudhalter, Jana Teuscher, Michael White, and Annie Wilker