Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Avant-garde Pathways / Museo Picasso Málaga, Spain

Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Avant-garde Pathways at the Museo Picasso Málaga is the first retrospective of the work of Swiss artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp in Spain. The show presents over 130 exhibits that include paintings, drawings, collages, textiles, puppets, plans, photographs, sculptures and furniture. The exhibition is divided into three sections: Broken Rhythm examines the work from her earliest period, in which Dada and Constructivism coexist openly, side by side; Inhabiting Spaces explains the artist’s contribution to interior design and architecture; and Living Geometry focuses on her actual geometric compositions.

The exhibition is curated by Estrella de Diego, Professor of Contemporary Art at the Complutense University in Madrid. In this video, Estrella de Diego talks about the concept of the exhibition, the scope of Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s work, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s influence on her contemporaries. She also lets us know what the most surprising findings were during the research for the exhibition and identifies a work that for her expresses the essence of Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s oeuvre.

Estrella de Diego has been a guest lecturer at universities in Spain and abroad, and has curated numerous exhibitions, including Lost Bodies. Photography and the Surrealists (Fundación La Caixa, 1996) and Warhol on Warhol (La Casa Encendida, 2007). Her research focuses on gender theory and visual studies, subjects on which she has written widely. Her books include Tristí­simo Warhol (Very Sad Warhol), Editorial Siruela, Madrid, 1999; Querida Gala. Las vidas ocultas de Gala Dalí­ (Dear Gala. The Hidden Lives of Gala Dalí­), Espasa, 2003; and Maruja Mallo, Fundación Mapfre, 2008.

Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943) was born in Davos, Switzerland. Sophie Täuber studied at the School of Applied Arts in St. Gallen (1908-1910). In 1911 and 1913 Sophie Täuber studied in Munich at the workshop of Wilhelm von Debschits, in between, she studied at the School of Arts and Crafts in Hamburg. In 1916, she attended the Leban School of Dance in Zürich.

Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Avant-garde Pathways / Museo Picasso Málaga, Spain. Interview with curator Estrella de Diego, October 19, 2009.

See also: Museo Picasso Malaga / Interview with Artistic Director José Lebrero Stals.

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