Jean Arp

Education at the School of Arts and Crafts in Strasbourg. Publishes his first poems. Is introduced to modern art in Paris.

Studies at the Weimar Academy of Art with the painter Ludwig von Hofmann. Is introduced to the work of Aristide Maillol.

Attends the Académie Julian in Paris.

Moves to Weggis in Switzerland. Takes lessons in modelling with the sculptor Fritz Huf.

Cofounds the painters group ‘Der Moderne Bund’ (The Modern Alliance).

Visits Wassily Kandinsky in Munich; collaborates on the Der Blaue Reiter Almanach (The Blue Rider Almanac) and participates in the group’s second exhibition.

Publishes the book Neue französische Malerei (New French Painting) with L. H. Neitzel. Contributes to H. Walden’s magazine, Der Sturm (The Storm). Participates in the Erster Deutscher Herbstsalon (First German Autumn Salon), organised by H. Walden.

Visits the Werkbundausstellung (Werkbund Exhibition) in Cologne, where he gets to know Max Ernst – the beginning of a lifelong friendship. Brings himself to safety in Paris before the outbreak of the First World War. Encounters with G. Apollinaire, M. Jacob, P. Picasso, R. and S. Delaunay and A. Modigliani, amongst others.

Leaves France along with his brother and flees to Switzerland. Stays in Ascona, where he meets Arthur Segal and Adya and Otto van Rees. Moves to Zurich. Exhibits collages and tapestries there at the Galerie Tanner. Meets Sophie Taeuber and begins his joint artistic work with her. Beginnings of Konkrete Kunst (Concrete art).

Opening of the ‘Künstlerkneipe Voltaire’ (Voltaire Artists Tavern), later called the Cabaret Voltaire, a podium for numerous events by Dada artists, in Zurich on 5 February.

Begins working on abstract wood reliefs. First Dada exhibition at the Galerie Corray. Does the first recitation from Die Wolkenpumpe (The Cloud Pump) on 18 March. Intermittently with Sophie Taeuber on Monte Verità in Ascona.

Designs furniture for the poet O. Flake. Creation of ‘duo collages’ with Sophie Taeuber. Begins artistic work ‘according to the laws of chance’.

Repeat visits in Cologne. Active along with Max Ernst in the Cologne Dada movement. Gets to know El Lissitzky and K. Schwitters on trips to Berlin. Publication of the poetry volumes Die Wolkenpumpe and Der Vogel Selbdritt.

Dada meeting in Tarrenz, Tirol.

Marries Sophie Taeuber in Pura (Ticino). Takes part in the ‘Kongress progressiver Künstler’ (Congress of Progressive Artists) in Düsseldorf and the Constructivist meeting in Weimar.

Visits K. Schwitters in Hannover. Publishes the series of lithographs 7 Arpaden.

Move to Paris. Meets P. Mondrian there. Participates in the first exhibitions of the Surrealists.

Paints the Aubette in Strasbourg along with Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Theo van Doesburg.

Purchases a property in Clamart near Paris (Arp himself always states Meudon as the location!), today the seat of the Fondation Arp.

Beginning of "sculpture in the round".

Member of the Abstraction-Création group.

Beginning of the epoch of papiers déchirés (torn papers). First encounter with Marguerite Hagenbach.

Flees with Sophie Taeuber-Arp to Grasse in southern France.

Escapes to Switzerland.

Sophie Taeuber-Arp dies in Zurich on 13 January.

Based in Zurich and Basel; produces mainly poetry.

Returns to Clamart.

Lives with Marguerite Hagenbach in part in Clamart, in part in Basel, which temporarily becomes his second place of residence.

On My Way is published in New York as the first larger compendium of his literary and artistic work.

First trip to the United States.

Second trip to the United States. Designs a large wood relief for the Harvard University Graduate Center (architect W. Gropius).

Visits Greece.

Installation of the monumental version of the Wolkenhirt (Shepherd of Clouds) at the Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas, Venezuela.

Grand Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale XXVII.

Second visit to Greece. Memories, poems and observations from 1914–54 are published under the title Unsern täglichen Traum... Erinnerungen, Dichtungen und Betrachtungen aus den Jahren 1914–1954.

Bronze relief for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

Third trip to the United States and Mexico.

Purchases the Ronco dei Fiori property in Locarno-Solduno. Marries Marguerite Hagenbach.

Aluminium relief for the Technische Hochschule Braunschweig. Awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. Visits the Middle East.

Trip to the Rhineland; installation of the marble sculpture Wolkenschale (Cloud Bowl) in front of the University Library in Bonn. Visit to the Roman ruins in Trier. Receives the honorary award of the Cultural Section of the Confederation of German Industry (BDI). Is awarded the Stephan Lochner Medaille of the City of Cologne and becomes an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Grand Prix National des Arts, Paris.

Grand Prize for Sculpture of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Carnegie Prize, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Donates a significant part of his collection to the city of Locarno. Appointed an Honorary Citizen of Locarno. Awarded the Hanseatic Goethe Prize of the University of Hamburg.

Receives the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Dies in Basel on 7 June.