Armando Arman

Arman (born Armand, 1928, Nice, France - 2005, New York, USA). After graduating in Philosophy and Mathematics in 1946, he studied at the École Nationale d'Arts Décoratifs in Nice, France, which he abandoned in 1949, in protest against the school administration. On that same year he went to the École du Louvre, in Paris, France, to study Archaeology and Oriental Art. He also leaves this to move to Madrid, Spain, with Yves Klein, to teach judo at the Bushido Kai Judo Club, in Madrid. In 1957 he participated in the exhibition Micro-Salon d'Avril, at the Iris Clert Gallery, Paris, with about 50 artists, including Arp, Fontana, Michaux and Picasso. The exhibition invitation omitted the "d" of his original name, identifying the artist as Arman, and he decided to assume it from then on in his artistic career.

In 1960 he founded the Nouveau Réalisme group together with the artists Yves Klein, François Dufrên, Raymond Hains, Martial Raysse, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely, Jacques Villeglé, and the French philosopher and art critic Pierre Restany. In 1968 he exhibited at the 34th Venice Biennial, Italy, and on the same year at Documenta IV in Kassel, Germany.

He is represented in several important museum collections: Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, California, USA; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C., USA; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA; The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; The Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom; Centre Pompidou, in Paris; The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, USA; Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, among others.

Influenced by the DADA and Pop Art movements, Arman became better known for his accumulations and destruction/recomposition of objects. 

During his life Arman has traveled extensively, exhibiting in galleries and museums and opening works of public art all over the globe.

PS, dezembro 2020