French-American painter, sculptor and visual artist known for his “accumulations.”
Born in Nice in 1928, the son of an antiques dealer and a cellist, artist Armand Pierre Fernandez developed an affinity for music and the art of collecting.
Education
He attended the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs in Nice and later moved to Paris, where he continued his studies in art history at the École du Louvre.
In these early years his work focused on abstract paintings inspired by the work of Nicolas de Staël.
Interesting facts about Arman
Inspired by Vincent van Gogh, he signed his early works with only his first name.
Travels in Europe
An avid reader, Arman sought inspiration through books and art magazines, as well as during frequent trips to Europe with his artist friends from Nice, Claude Pascale and Yves Klein.
Nouveau Réalisme Group
The artist co-founded the Nouveau Réalisme group, whose members argued against ossification within abstract and informal art and advocated a new approach to reality, seeking a poetic rediscovery of the reality of urban and industrial life.
He was one of the first artists to directly use manufactured objects as pictorial material. Objects representing for him the multiple and infinite extensions of the human hand that undergo a continuous cycle of production, consumption and destruction.
What is Nouveau Réalisme?
Nouveau Réalisme is an artistic movement that originated in France in 1960.
Led by Pierre Restany, the artists characterized it with a critical and rebellious approach to reality, using everyday objects and waste materials to represent it. They thus transcended the traditional distinctions between painting, sculpture, and other artistic disciplines, using mixed and original techniques.
They characterized it with a critical and rebellious approach to reality, using everyday objects and waste to represent it. In this way, they overcame the traditional distinctions between painting, sculpture, and other artistic disciplines, using mixed and original techniques.
The artists of Nouveau Realisme
The artists Yves Klein, Arman, Dufrêne, Hains, Raysse, Spoerri, Tinguely, and Villeglé, led by Pierre Restany, signed the Manifesto that decreed the birth of the group.
They were joined by César, Mimmo Rotella, and later Niki de Saint-Phalle, Deschamps, and Christo.
