SOPHIE TAEUBER-ARP RESEARCH PROJECT (STARP)
WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?
In the summer of 2020, the Sophie Taeuber-Arp Research Project (STARP) was launched. Building on the archive of the Stiftung Arp e. V. and with the expertise of the Gerhard-Marcks-Haus, the comprehensive website sophietaeuberarp.org is being developed, dedicated to the life and work of the artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp. At the heart of the project is a database of the artist’s complete works.
WHO IS INVOLVED?
The Sophie Taeuber-Arp Research Project (STARP) is a joint project between the Stiftung Arp e. V. (Remagen/Berlin) and the Gerhard-Marcks-Haus (Bremen).
Since 1977 the Stiftung Arp e. V. has overseen a large part of the artistic estate of the Franco-German sculptor and poet Hans Arp (1886–1966) and of his first wife, the Swiss artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889–1943).
The principal aim of the Stiftung Arp e. V. is to make the work of Arp and Taeuber-Arp accessible to a wide international audience. Supporting academic research, exhibitions and publications are vital tools in this effort. Academic discourse in the course of fellowships and conferences forms the centre of the foundation’s work.
The Gerhard-Marcks-Haus in Bremen is a museum for modern and contemporary sculpture. It oversees the estate of Gerhard Marcks (1889–1981) and researches the history of modern sculpture. In the latter context, the “critical inventory” of Hans Arp’s sculptural oeuvre was compiled at the museum between 2010 and 2012.
Its self-conception as a researching museum gives rise to an intensive and active interest in questions relating to cataloguing. For this purpose it favours small, agile databases, tailored to the oeuvre of the given artist or a particular line of art-historical inquiry. Rooted in this expertise and the links with the Stiftung Arp, the STARP project came into being.
AIM OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT
The research project’s goal is to create a digital collection of Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s life and work, available on sophietaeuberarp.org. This platform aims to become a hub for research, sparking new perspectives by cataloguing all her known works.
Ideally the research platform sophietaeuberarp.org will develop into a central site for research and discourse, and open up new research questions and perspectives. All known works by Sophie Taeuber-Arp – the entire spectrum of her artistic production – will be brought together and permanently documented in the form of a database.
THE PROJECT AS A WORK IN PROGRESS
The website is being continuously developed. In particular, the database is to be understood as a work in progress. New findings, additions, and corrections are incorporated on a regular basis.
THANKS
We are enormously grateful to the authors of the articles and to all institutions and owners of the works who are supporting the project. Their supply of information and visual material is substantial to the achievement of this venture.
