Fernandez ARMAN (1928-2005)

Romeo and Juliet, 1970 or 1974 Combustion of broken cellos in Plexiglas signed in pen on the lower right back. Unique piece 200 x 160 cm Acquired in 1976 by Mr Burawoy This work is recorded in the archives of Mrs Denyse Durand-Ruel under number 67. PROVENANCE: ALAIN SCHOFFEL The date of creation (1970) as well as the title of the work were communicated by Arman himself, years later to our collector but it is very likely that the work dates rather from 1974. As early as 1959, Arman developed his inclusion process, imprisoning objects in a thick layer of resin, giving the imprisoned object a kind of eternity. He then combined this technique with other creative processes, such as accumulation, anger, cutting and burning. With Romeo and Juliet, a characteristic production of the artist in the 1970s, Arman comes to freeze in time two cellos consumed by fire, in a movement that reminds us of the fruit of his anger and the explosive and tragic intensity that guided the destiny of the two young lovers to whom he dedicates this work.