MoMA held the first retrospective of the Swiss avant-garde artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp in 1981. Consisting of more than 40 works from multiple periods of the artist’s mature work, the exhibition aimed, according to curator Carolyn Lanchner, “to present a small, selective retrospective that will demonstrate the quality, originality, and importance of her work.” This motivation stemmed from a widespread misperception of Taeuber-Arp as a minor modernist, despite her foundational role in the Zürich Dada movement and accomplishments as a painter, sculptor, and textile designer. Taeuber-Arp, also a leading practitioner of geometric abstraction, had for many years best been known to a small, admiring fan base; beyond this, she was largely overshadowed by the men in her artistic circles. MoMA's retrospective, which traveled to several venues across the US and Canada, was a major milestone in recuperating Taeuber-Arp as one of the foremost modernists of the early 20th century.
Sophie Taeuber-Arp
Sep 17–Dec 13, 1981
MoMA
Publications
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Sophie Taeuber-Arp Out of print, 58 pages
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Master checklist 3 pages
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Press release 4 pages
Artist
Installation images
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