Torso (Primary Title)
Arman, American, born France, 1928–2005 (Artist)
“I have always pretended that objects themselves formed a self-composition. My composition consisted of allowing them to compose themselves.” —Arman
Arman belongs to Nouveau Réalisme, a movement that included artists Yves Klein and Christo and was often considered the French version of American Pop Art. The Nouveau Realists shared Pop Art’s fascination with everyday objects, though rather than representing them in paintings and sculptures, they incorporated them into collages and assemblages.
Torso belongs to Arman’s body of work known as Accumulations, groupings of repeated objects placed in glass boxes or encased in resin. Arman explored the concept of “critical mass,” filling his containers to the maximum to create an “all-over” appearance akin to mid-20th-century abstract painting. For Arman, critical mass also implied the point at which the chosen object loses its individuality while retaining a sense of its original self. Here Arman mirrors the dolls’ shape in the overall form of the resin casing.
Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Mass. "A Figurative Perspective: Recent Paintings and Sculpture from the Virginia Museum," 12 March - 21 May 1989.
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