La Libellule
By Armand P. Arman
Category: Sculpture
About
When viewed from the front, La Libellule (The Dragonfly) appears to be a woman with golden wings. These golden wings are actually propeller blades attached to her body that protrude from a huge gash down the center of her torso. La Libellule is an experiment in 3-D collage that creates an intriguing and surprising effect.
Dimensions: 5′ x 4′ x 4′
Year Completed: 1996
Material: Patinated bronze and gold leaf on steel
Donor: Loan courtesy of the artist
About the artist:
Armand P. Arman
1928-2005
Regarded as one of the most prolific and inventive creators of the late 20th century, Arman’s vast artistic output ranges from drawings and prints to monumental public sculpture to his famous “accumulations” of found objects. Inspired by the Dadaist collages of Kurt Schwitters, Arman and fellow artists Yves Klein, Martial Raysse and Jean Tinguely, among others, began the movement of “New Realism,” which would be very influential on future artists. For one famous exhibition, “Full Up” (“Le Plein”), Armand filled the entire gallery with garbage so that nobody could even enter.
As he established himself in New York, his projects became ever more ambitious and prolific, and featured accumulations of tools, clocks, jewelry and countless other materials. He would weld hundreds of these objects together into sculpted formations, some only centimeters high, others filling entire rooms.
