Sculptor, painter and poet, Arp was a major influence on his contemporaries. He was one of the founders of the Dada movement in Zürich in 1916 but by the twenties had turned to abstract painting and sculpture. Woodcuts were a major part of his printed oeuvre. Together with Brancusi he was a major influence on organic abstract sculpture based on natural forms.

Right: portrait of Jean Arp by Hans Bellmer, pencil, 1957