Curatorial Assistant, Laura Braverman: Beginning in the mid-1930s, Taeuber-Arp began to incorporate curves in her compositions alongside the straight-edged shapes that she was already using. And this sculpture is a really good example of how she was doing that. You have this spherical, drop-like shape, which then has these cutouts, these sharp, wedge-like incisions that sort of disturb the concavity of the shape.
Taeuber-Arp gave it the title Head and once you know the title, you see it differently. Its little peak could become the top of the head. The gap at the bottom could be an open mouth.
In 1938, just a year after this sculpture was made, it was included in the International Surrealist Exhibition. The Surrealists tried to overthrow what they perceived as the oppressive rationalism of modern society by accessing a superior reality through the subconscious. So, given Taeuber-Arp's precise planning, it first appears surprising to know that she also participated in a number of Surrealist exhibitions. But her work always seems to be open to various interpretations, and I think that Taeuber-Arp really cherished this.
Writer and Journalist, Amah-Rose Abrams: Either consciously or unconsciously, I feel that she was quite feminist in her life and in her practice. The decisions that she made, by being the breadwinner, or that she would, radically, towards the end of her life, change her practice. She just doesn't seem to have these psychological barriers about where she should and shouldn't go.