Sophie Taeuber-Arp: A Life Through Art

Book excerpt: An intimate look at the life and career of the Dada hero known for the unique joy of her work across mediums, authored by her great-niece and buttressed with archival material Even when performing at Zurich's Cabaret Voltaire during Dada's halcyon days, Swiss artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943) stood out from the crowd: her choreography, paintings, sculptures, puppets and textiles were all infused with a unique joy that set her apart from her contemporaries. In this important new publication, Taeuber-Arp's great-niece pays homage to the artist's pioneering oeuvre and rich personal life. Silvia Boadella grew up with Taeuber-Arp's oeuvre to hand and draws from her memories, stories and family documents, as well as hitherto unpublished sources for this volume. Boadella provides readers for the first time with a portrait of Taeuber-Arp's personality, her private and artistic environment, connecting the phases of her life to her works, and, with the aid of numerous illustrations including photographs from the family archives, constructs a vivid experience for the reader.