ARMAN

Armand Fernandez. French born sculptor who settled in NewYork in 1963 and became an American citizen in 1972. He was born in Nice and studied brief… [Read biography »]

Arman biography

Armand Fernandez. French born sculptor who settled in NewYork in 1963 and became an American citizen in 1972. He was born in Nice and studied briefly in Paris at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs and the Ecole du Louvre. In 1957, with his friend Yves Klein, he decided to be known by his first name only, and the form 'Arman' was adopted in 1958 as the result of a printer's error on the cover of a catalogue. Like Klein he was interested in Japanese culture, particularly Zen Buddhism, and (again like Klein) he worked for a time as a judo instructor. In the early 1960s Arman gained a reputation as one of the leading exponents of Nouveau Réalisme and he is best known for his assemblages of junk material. These range from modest collections of household debris (Accumulation of Sliced Teapots, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1964) to a huge tower (about 20 meters high) of 60 automobiles embedded in cement (Long-Term Parking, Cartier Museum, jouy-en-josas, 1982).

Chilvers, Ian, Oxford Dictionary of 20th Century Art, Oxford, New York, Oxford University Press, 1998.