Sophie Taeuber-Arp

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Lore & Background

Sophie Taeuber-Arp was born in Davos in 1889, the fifth child of Prussian pharmacist Emil Taeuber and Swiss Sophie Taeuber-Krüsi. Her father died of tuberculosis when she was two, after which the family moved to Trogen, where her mother opened a pension. She was taught to sew by her mother. From 1906 to 1910 she studied textile design at the trade school in St. Gallen, then studied at Wilhelm von Debschitz's school in Munich in 1911 and again in 1913, with a year at the School of Arts and Crafts in Hamburg in between. When World War I started in 1914, she returned to Switzerland. In Zurich she experimented with nonfigurative art, producing a Vertical-Horizontal series based on textile grid structures, and later pioneered abstract modular colour sequences. She joined the Schweizerischer Werkbund in 1915, attended the Laban School of Dance in Zurich that same year, and spent the summer at the Monte Verita artist colony in Ascona. In 1917 she danced with Suzanne Perrottet, Mary Wigman, and others at the Sun Festival organised by Laban in Ascona. From 1916 to 1929 she taught embroidery and design at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich. In 1915, at an exhibition at the Tanner Gallery, she met the Dada artist Jean Arp, who had moved to Zurich to avoid being drafted. They married in 1922, and she changed her last name to Taeuber-Arp. She became involved in the Zurich Dada movement centered on the Cabaret Voltaire, performing as a dancer, choreographer, and puppeteer, and designing puppets, costumes, and sets. At the opening of the Galerie Dada in 1917, she danced to poetry by Hugo Ball while wearing a shamanic mask by Marcel Janco. Her sculptural works include abstract 'Dada Heads,' such as the *Tête Dada* of turned polychromed wood. She was a close friend of Tristan Tzara, who solicited her work for the abandoned anthology *Dadaglobe* in 1920. Between 1926 and 1928 she worked in Strasbourg, completing her first architecture and interior design commission. She and Arp took French citizenship and divided their time between Strasbourg and Paris. She was commissioned to create a radically Constructivist interior for the Café de l'Aubette, collaborating with Jean Arp and Theo van Doesburg. In 1927 she co-authored a book, *Welly Lowell*, with Blanche Gauchet. In 1928 the couple established a household in Meudon/Val-Fleury outside Paris, where she designed their house and some furnishings. In the 1930s she was a member of Cercle et Carré and Abstraction-Création, and provided cover art for the February 1933 issue of *transition*. She explored the circle as a cosmic metaphor, referring to this period as 'ping pictures,' and appears to be the first artist to use polka dots in fine art with works such as *Dynamic Circles* (1934). She founded the Constructivist review *Plastique* in Paris. In 1940 she and Arp fled Paris ahead of Nazi occupation, moving to Grasse in Vichy France, then to Switzerland at the end of 1942. She died in early 1943 from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a stove at the house of Max Bill.

Reader's Guide

Sophie Taeuber-Arp is recognized as a key figure in concrete art and geometric abstraction, though her contributions were largely overlooked after her death. Her work, spanning painting, sculpture, textile design, architecture, and dance, exemplifies a synthesis of fine and applied arts. Within the Dada movement, her performances and objects—such as the Dada Heads—were noted for their 'joyous abstractions' rather than anger; *The Guardian* called her a 'radical artist who brought joy to the dada.' Her textile and graphic works from around 1916 through the 1920s are among the earliest Constructivist works, alongside those of Piet Mondrian and Kasimir Malevich. She was one of over four dozen Dadaist artists solicited by Tristan Tzara for the *Dadaglobe* anthology. Her legacy includes pioneering abstract modular colour sequences and the use of polka dots in fine art. Wassily Kandinsky remarked that she expressed herself through colored reliefs using simple geometric forms, whose 'whisper' could be more expressive than a loud voice. A photograph of her dancing in a mask and costume at the Cabaret Voltaire in 1917 was displayed at the 2014 exhibition 'Danser sa vie' at the Centre Georges Pompidou. She was the only woman on the eighth series of Swiss banknotes, appearing on the 50-franc note from 1995 to 2016.

Did You Know?

• She was the only woman on the eighth series of Swiss banknotes, appearing on the 50-franc note from 1995 to 2016.
• She appears to be the first artist to use polka dots in fine art, with works such as *Dynamic Circles* (1934).
• At the 1917 opening of the Galerie Dada, she danced to poetry by Hugo Ball while wearing a shamanic mask by Marcel Janco.
• A museum honouring Taeuber-Arp and Jean Arp opened in 2007 in a section of the Rolandseck railway station in Germany, redesigned by Richard Meier.

A Multidisciplinary Practice

Sophie Taeuber-Arp worked across an extraordinary range of media throughout her career. She was a painter, sculptor, textile designer, furniture and interior designer, architect, and dancer. Her training reflected this breadth: she studied textile design at the trade school in St. Gallen from 1906 to 1910, then spent time at Wilhelm von Debschitz's applied-crafts school in Munich in 1911 and again in 1913, and a year at the School of Arts and Crafts in Hamburg. Back in Zurich during the war, she drew on the grid structures of textiles to produce her Vertical-Horizontal series, and she became known for pioneering abstract modular colour sequences. She joined the Schweizerischer Werkbund in 1915, attended the Laban School of Dance, and spent a summer at the Monte Verita artist colony in Ascona. From 1916 to 1929 she taught embroidery and design at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich. Her work in the 1920s in France extended into full architectural and interior commissions, including designing her own home in Meudon/Val-Fleury.

Dada and the Cabaret Voltaire

In 1915, at an exhibition at the Tanner Gallery in Zurich, Sophie met Jean Arp, a German-French artist who had moved to Zurich to avoid being drafted. Their meeting set in motion one of the most significant artistic partnerships of the twentieth century. Sophie became deeply embedded in the Zurich Dada movement, which crystallised around the Cabaret Voltaire in 1916. She performed as a dancer, choreographer, and puppeteer, designing puppets, costumes, and stage sets for Dada events and other Swiss and French theatres. At the 1917 opening of the Galerie Dada, she danced to Hugo Ball's poetry while wearing a shamanic mask crafted by Marcel Janco. Her sculptural output from this era includes the celebrated *Tête Dada* (1920), a turned polychromed wood piece whose form echoes the small stands hatmakers used. Critics have noted that her Dada works carried a joyous, playful quality—blocks and blobs of colour rearranged by chance, producing patterns that felt like visual jazz.

The Arp Partnership and French Years

Sophie and Jean married in 1922, after which she adopted the name Taeuber-Arp. In 1926 the couple relocated to France, first settling in Strasbourg so Jean could fulfil residency requirements for French citizenship. Both eventually became French citizens, and the pair divided their time between Strasbourg and Paris. It was in Strasbourg that Sophie completed her first architecture and interior design commission. In Paris she received numerous interior design projects, the most ambitious being the radically Constructivist interior for the Café de l'Aubette, on which Jean Arp and de Stijl artist Theo van Doesburg joined her as collaborators. In 1927 she co-authored a book, *Welly Lowell*, with Blanche Gauchet. By the late 1920s the couple had established a household in Meudon/Val-Fleury outside Paris, where Sophie designed the house and some of its furnishings. They remained in France until the German invasion during the Second World War forced them back to Switzerland.

Overlooked and Rediscovered

Despite the breadth and ambition of her output, Sophie Taeuber-Arp was largely overlooked in the years following her death in January 1943, when she perished in an accident involving a leaking gas stove. It was only later that art historians and critics re-evaluated her contribution, recognising her as one of the most important artists of concrete art and geometric abstraction in the twentieth century. Her textile and graphic works from roughly 1916 through the 1920s are now regarded among the earliest Constructivist achievements, standing alongside the work of Piet Mondrian and Kasimir Malevich. *The Guardian* has described her as a radical artist who brought joy to the dada, and critics have characterised her abstractions as joyous rather than angry—patterns emerging from the random rearrangement of colour and form. Her close friendship with Tristan Tzara and her inclusion in the planned *Dadaglobe* anthology, abandoned after Francis Picabia withdrew support in 1921, further underscore the central role she played in a movement that challenged established artistic conventions.