1928
November 17:
Armand Pierre Fernandez born in Nice. He is the only son of Antonio Francisco Fernandez (1898-4992) and Marie Marguerite Jacquet (1907-4973).
His father, Antonio, born of a rich Spanish family who emigrated from Algeria, owns a furniture and antique shop.
1933
Arman’s father and mother get married in Grasse where Arman’s mother stayed with him at “Le Grand Hotel”.
1934
Arman attends the Cours Poisat, a school with a majority of girls (he refused to be separated from his friend Micheline).
1936
He plays chess for the first time and dedicates himself to the improvement of his skills by studying books about the game. This passionate devotion to a subject will characterize him throughout his whole life.
1938
He learns oil painting from his father, an amateur painter.
1940
September:
He enters the Lycée de Nice and is expelled three months later. He attends boarding schools in Grasse and Vence before returning to the Lycée de Nice.
1946
Arman grants his Baccalaureate in Philosophy and Mathematics at Nice and attends The Cours de Vienne. He enters the Ecole National d'Art Décoratif de Nice and leaves it in 1949 in protest against the social conservatism of the school’s administration. He makes series of little oil paintings of landscapes that his father sells in his shop. He also paints a self-portrait that his parents will keep all of their life. He develops interest in collecting antiques, in particular Chinese Porcelain while buying at auctions for local dealers.
1947
He meets Yves Klein and Claude Pascal at a judo school in Nice.
Summer:
This year and in 1948 the three friends hitchhike through Europe. In admiration of Vincent Van Gogh, who signed only his first name on his paintings, they decide to give up their surnames. Until 1953 the three are strongly involved, spiritually and intellectually, with Zen Buddhism, Rosicrucianism, Gurdjieff, and Astrology.
1949
Moves to Paris his first major trip to the city to study Archaeology and Oriental art at the École du Louvre in order to become an auctioneer. Begins painting in a Surrealist style.
1951
He leaves the Ecole du Louvre and goes to Madrid with Yves Klein to teach at the Bushido-Kai Judo School.
August 8th:
Birth of his first daughter, Françoise (a.k.a. Marion)
1952
He serves in the Medical corps of the French marines during the Indochina War.
1953
Influenced by the Russian immigrant painter Serge Poliakoff and Nicolas de Stael, he starts working on abstract painting.
He collaborates with Klein on happenings.
February 17th:
He marries Eliane Radigue (they will divorce in 1971). Claude Pascal is their witness.
He continues to collect antiques and decorative objects. Armand also develops interest in African art after viewing an exhibition in Paris. He moves in an apartment at “9, Parc de la Californie” in Nice with Eliane.
June 29th:
Birth of his second daughter, Anne
1954
Armand sees Kurt Schwitters’s exhibition at Galerie Berggruen and Pollock’s paintings at Studio Fachetti in Paris.
He begins experimenting with rubber stamps and creates his first Cachets.
September 18th:
Birth of his first son, Yves.
1955
He works in Nice, he practices scuba diving and fishing, sels furniture, cars and household appliances.
1956
"ARMAND" First solo exhibition of Cachets and paintings held at the Galerie du Haut-Pavé, Paris.
1957
« ARMAND » Exhibition at Galerie La Roue, Paris.
« Minuscules » Librairie Jacques Matarasso, Nice, France.
April 12th:
« Micro-Salon d’Avril » at Galerie Iris Clert, with 50 others artists (ie: Alechensky, Appel, Arp, Baj, Benrath, Bryen, Dali, César, Corneille, Max Ernst, Klein, Fautrier, Fontana, Gromaire, Hartung, Habbah, Hundertwasser, Jorn, Kricke, Laubiès, Manessier, Michaux, Mubin, Penalba, Picasso, Pignon, Quentin, Marie Raymond, Rioppelle, Singier,Takis, Dorothea Tanning, Tinguely, Tsingos, Vasarely, Wilfredo-Lam...).
The printer of the invitation omits the "d" from his name.
1958
May 20th:
« Les Olympiens, peintures récentes de ARMAN » at Galerie Iris Clert, Paris. He decides he prefers to drop the « d » at the end of his name to be known as Arman.
He creates the first Allures d'Objets.
November-January:
He travels in a 2CV car to Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan with Eliane and « Pere Steve », a friend researcher and Dominican Priest who is studying proto- Sumerian cuneiform languages with the French archaeological mission.
1959
He makes his first sculptures, Poubelles, Accumulations.
First solo exhibition held in Italy at the Galerie Apollinaire, Milan.
Exhibition at Galerie Saint-Germain, Paris
1960
March 16th to April 9th:
« Arman Allures d’Objets » at Galerie Saint-Germain, Paris.
Exhibition at Galerie Smella, Dusseldorf.
October 25:
He fills up the Galerie Iris Clert with garbage, creating « Le Plein » (« Full Up »).
October 27:
He signs a manifesto with Klein, Raysse, Hains, Tinguely Spoerri and Villeglé, founding for this occasion the « Nouveau Realisme » movement with the art critic and historian Pierre Restany. New Realism = new perceptive approaches of reality.
He meets
Larry Rivers, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns in Paris and has his first
English lessons taught by Rauschenberg.
1961
Exhibition at Galerie Swartz, Milan.
He makes his first Colères.
July 13:
He smashes furniture for the « First New Realism Festival » at Abbaye de Roseland in Nice, creating his first public Colère. Arman does it again in September at Paris, for a session of collective performance with Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle, in front of the cameras of NBC channel.
He accumulates objects in polyester.
October:
For his first visit to New York, he is included in a group exhibition in a museum: « The Art of Assemblage » at the Museum of Modern Art.
Simultaneously, his first solo exhibition in the United States opens at Cordier-Warren Gallery in New York.
He lives for several months at the Chelsea Hotel in New York, as he will do each year until 1968.
He meets Marcel Duchamp at a dinner given by the artist and collector William Copley.
Exhibition at Galerie Swartz, Milan, Italy.
1962
He purchases a blowtorch and starts to weld objects together, which allows him to erect his Accumulations in volume and height.
June:
Yves Klein dies in Paris.
Summer:
The family moves out of the apartment « Parc de la Californie » to a house in the heights of Nice: 156 Chemin de la Lanterne.
Fall:
Arman travels to New York and Los Angeles for a group exhibition of French and American artists entitled « The New Realists » at the Sidney Janis Gallery and a solo exhibition at the Dwan Gallery, Los Angeles, California.
Exhibition at Galerie Saqârah, Gstaad.
Exhibition at Galerie Aujourd'hui, Brussels and Galerie Lawrence, Paris.
1963
Firs solo exhibition at Sidney Janis Gallery, New York.
Arman dynamites the #505050 MG convertible of filmmaker Charles Whilp for a great performance session filmed by the latter in a quary of Essen, Germany.
He decides to quit the New Realism movement.
December:
He takes all of his family, Eliane and the three children, to live with him in New York in an apartment uptown on 98th st, West side.
While he was only using it to fix objets on the canvas, Arman starts to immerse them completely in this medium to realize his first Inclusions.
Exhibition at Galerie Schmella, Dusseldorf.
Exhibition at Galerie Lawrence, Paris.
Exhibition at Galerie Swartz, Milan.
Exhibition at Galerie Ad Libitum, Antwerp, the Netherlands.
1964
Exhibition at Sidney Janis Gallery, New York.
Summer:
The family is back to Avenue de la Lanterne, Nice.
September:
His first solo museum exhibitions open at the Walker Hill Art Center, Minneapolis, and at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
After his visit to Amsterdam, he begins to create new works by placing burned objects in plastic.
1965
He creates with the complicity of Daniel Spoerri and Robert Filliou an event called « Artist Key Club, locker lottery » in New York at Grand Central Station.
Exhibition « Pop art, Nouveau Réalisme » at Palais des Beaux-arts, Brussels.
Exhibition at Richard Feigen Gallery, Chicago.
Exhibition at Galerie Bonnier, Lausanne.
Exhibition at Galerie Lawrence, Paris.
Exhibition at Galerie Michel Couturier, Paris.
Exhibition at Galerie Leone, Venice.
1966
He makes his first accumulations of paint tubes embedded in polyester.
February:
Retrospective held at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.
September:
He receives the Marzotto Prize in Venice
Exhibition at Galerie Bonnier, Lausanne.
Exhibition at Galerie Saqqarah, Gstaad.
Exhibition
at Galerie Svensk-Franska, Stockholm
1967
He begins an « Art-Industry » collaboration with Renault, the French automobile manufacturer. It perpetuates throughout the 1980's.
He represents France at Expo '67 in Montreal.
Summer:
Eliane and the children leave Nice for Paris.
September:
He teaches two semesters of painting (end 1967 and spring 1968) at UCLA University (University of California, Los Angeles).
Exhibition at Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Paris.
Exhibition at Galerie Françoise Meyer, Brussels.
Exhibition at Musée des Ponchettes, Nice.
1968
He exhibits at the XXXIV Venice Biennale and at the « Documenta IV » in Kassel, Germany.
Summer:
He starts living in a house, designed by the architect Guy Rottier, on his father’s property in Vence. Later baptized « Le Bidonville ». From then, Arman will share his time between New York and Vence.
August:
He meets Corice Canton in the south of France. They will get married on July 13, 1971.
1969
March:
His exhibition of Renault Accumulations opens at the Stedelijk Museum and tours throughout Europe.
He buys a small house on Church Street in lower Manhattan.
November:
The conceptual exhibition « Art by Telephone », for whom Arman creates a piece, is presented at the Chicago Contemporary Museum (USA).
Denyse Durand-Ruel starts constituting archives about Arman’s work.
Exhibition at Galerie Bonnier, Geneva.
Exhibition at Galerie Svensk-Franska, Stockholm
Exhibition at Galerie Ileana Sonnadend, Paris.
Exhibition at Galerie Mathias Fels, Paris.
1970
He moves to a loft in SoHo (Manhattan) and continues to commute between Europe and the United States.
Pursuing his archeology of the future, Arman accumulates objects in concrete.
He also uses raw garbage and organic materials for his sculptures incorporated in plastic.
He accumulates wastes from the studios of his artist friends, for a series of sculptures in Plexiglas boxes.
Exhibition at the French Pavillion, World's Fair, Osaka, Japan
1971
An « object-book » dedicated the artist’s reflexions about Time is published by the editors Petit & Rousseau. It is entitled « Arman Passe-Temps ».
Exhibition
“Arman” at Galerie Venise Cadre, Casablanca, Maroc.
1972
January 31:
He becomes a U.S. citizen and changes his name to Armand Pierre Arman.
He is decorated « Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite » by the French President G. Pompidou. He participates to the exposition « Douze ans d’art contemporain, 1960-4972 » required by the latter at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais.
He studies with his wife the martial art of Kung Fu, Wu Su.
1973
A Rétrospective « Selected Activites » is inaugurated at the John Gibbson Gallery, New York.
October 26th:
Arman’s mother dies in Vence.
November:
Exhibition at the Galleria Arte Borgogna of Milan.
A
retrospective of his works opens at Andrew Crispo Gallery, New York.
1974
September:
His first museum retrospective in the United States « Selected Works 1958-74 » is held at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, California. The exhibition tours throughout the United States, ending with a show at the Albright-Knox Museum in Buffalo, New York.
November:
Exhibition
« Concrete Lyrics », New dissected musical instruments
embedded in concrete are exhibited in Andrew Crispo’s Gallery in New York.
1975
January:
A major exhibition « Objets Armes 1971-4974 » is held at Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris.
April 5:
« Conscious Vandalism », a happening, stages at John Gibson Gallery, New York.
Summer:
He plays GO with Japanese master Isamu Haruyama in Vence, France.
Exhibitions in Japan at Gallery Valeur, Nagoya and at Jiyugaoka Gallery, Tokyo.
Winter:
Arman travels to Egypt.
1976
A retrospective of prints is held at Galerie de la Salle, St. Paul-de Vence, France.
He creates
an environment reconstituting the front window of his first exhibition « Le Plein » at the
XXXIXth Venice Biennale.
1977
A retrospective on the « Ecole de Nice » is held at Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Arman works in a new studio on Canal Street, in lower Manhattan.
A retrospective of his works is held at the Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kansas.
1978
Arman starts to produce bronze pieces.
May:
Exhibition « Hard and Soft » at Andrew Crispo Gallery, New York.
Exhibition « L’âge de Fer et ses Monuments » at Galerie Beaubourg, Paris.
Exhibition
at the Veraneman Foundation in Ghent; Belgium.
1979
He travels several Arial, sans-serif to China where he visits ancient archaeological sites and artistic centers.
December:
He travels to Moscow.
Exhibition at Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York.
Exhibition at Art in progress Gallery, Munich.
Exhibition
at Galerie Arte Contacto , Caracas, Venezuela.
1980
April - May:
He creates freestanding sculptures of accumulated tools while working in Nagoya (Japan) and he exhibits them at the Galerie Valeur (Nagoya).
A retrospective of his works is held at the Centre d'Art et de Culture in Flaine, France.
1981
He gives up GO and spends less time on his African Art Collection.
He creates
wall relief sculptures made out of tools and utensils.
1982
May:
An european retrospect »Parade of Objects » is held at Kunstmuseum, Hanover, Germany. It then tours throughout Europe and to the Tel Aviv Museum in Israel.
Summer fall:
He completes monumental sculpture « Long Term Parking », at Jouy-en-Josas, France.
December 2nd:
Birth of his fourth child, Yasmine
1983
May:
The exhibition « Arman’s Orchestra » is presented at Marisa del Re Gallery, New York. It is composed of chord instruments casted in bronze.
July:
A retrospective is held at the Musée Picasso in Antibes, France.
Arman makes large wall relief sculptures and smaller standing sculptures with accumulations of second-hand brass instruments and bronze cast instrument parts.
1984
He receives a commission from the French President, François Mitterrand, for a bronze flag accumulation, « À La République/Hommage A La Revolution De 1789 », for the Elysee Palace, Paris.
January:
He travels to Belgium and Switzerland.
In Paris, he is made « Commandeur des Arts et Lettres » by the Minister of Culture.
March:
He attends the opening of his exhibition at the Christian Fayt Gallery, Knokke-Le-Zoute, Belgium.
May:
An exhibition is held at the Spoleto Festival, at the Gibbes Art Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina.
September:
An exhibition « Tools and Instruments » is held at the Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, Florida.
Armand exhibits at the Museo d'Arte Moderna in Parma, Italy.
A retrospective is presented at the Museo Civico di Belle Arte in Lugano, Switzerland.
1985
January:
Arman travels to Japan and in April to Korea for retrospective exhibitions at the Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, and the Walker Hill Art Center, Seoul.
He moves from SoHo to TriBeCa in lower Manhattan.
« Music Power », a monumental sculpture made with bronze cast bass fiddles, is installed at the Acropolis, Nice.
July:
Two bronze sculptures are unveiled (« L'heure de Tous » and « Consigne A Vie ») at the Gare St. Lazarre of Paris.
September :
Participates in C.I.M.A. exhibition in Venice.
« Rostropovich's Tower », a monumental sculpture of sliced cello forms in bronze, is exhibited outside Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.
He creates an Accumulation of washing machine drums on the walls of his villa.
December:
He creates a scenery at the « Opera Comique de Paris » for the piece of Maurice Ravel « L'Heure Espagnole » staged by Jean-Louis Martinoty.
He designs
a Champagne Bottle for Taittinger.
1986
January:
He travels to Zurich for retrospective of his work at the Pavillon Werd.
February:
He works on the projet Slices of Liberty, in the objective of celebrating the Statue of Liberty’s upcoming centennial.
March:
Exhibition in Japan at the Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo.
April:
He attends to a retrospective in Wichita, Kansas.
June:
Exhibition in Nice, France, at the Galerie Beaubourg, for the Nice Art Fair.
He completes a 30 foot bronze sculpture consisting of flags « Fourth of July » for a private collection in Connecticut, to celebrate the National Day.
He presents an exposition « Hard and Sofwear » with the French Designer Courrèges.
He begins a new series of Brush Strokes works.
The sculpture « Being Beauteous » is installed outside of Tilles Hall, Long Island University.
Arman is commissioned for the design projects of Fragonard Perfume, Louis Vuitton, Porthault and Piaget.
The exhibition « Gods and Goddesses » is first presented at the Marisa Del Rey Gallery in New York, before leaving to the Galerie Beaubourg for the Paris FIAC, and later Toronto.
He starts a new painting project Monochrome Accumulation commissioned by AH Grafik, Sweden.
1987
January 17th, :
Birth of his second son, Philippe.
March:
Two monumental sculptures are realised « Cavalleria Eroica » for Le Jardin de Monte Carlo and « Cavalcade » for the Phoenix Tower in Houston, Texas.
April:
Arman illustrates and writes the texts for a children's book published with the Swedish editor GKM Siwert Berström. This collaboration will lead to an exposition in Malmö for which he will realise a Happening in the city concert Hall. He breaks and signs the musical instruments people bring to him.
May:
He completes two other public sculptures « Persepolis » in Dallas, Texas and « Ascent Of The Blues » for the Morgan Keegan Tower in Memphis, as a tribute to American Blues music.
June:
He participates to « Art against AIDS » group show.
Early Summer:
He leaves for Germany to build a work « Descente aux enfers » for the Kassel University during Documenta VIII show.
Fall:
He participates to The International Art Show for the End of World Hunger.
Winter:
New Paint Brush Paintings are presented at Galerie Beaubourg, Paris.
Arman designs set and costumes for an original creation at the Paris Opera: “Désordres Lyriques », presented in January 1988.
December:
He receives French Legion of Honor award for outstanding achievements.
A 400 page monograph is published on Arman, accompanied by a text written by the french art critic Bernard Lamarche-Vadel and published by Editions de La Différence, Paris.
He begins compiling information and documentation for the publication of the first volume of his Catalog Raisonné by Denyse Durand-Ruel, scheduled for publication in autumn 1989.
A sculpture entitled « Hommage à Picasso or Venus à la Guitare » is created for the « Arman/Picasso » exhibition at « L’Orangeraie" in Geneva, Switzerland. The technique is later developed as a series of works called Transsculptures.
1988
February:
Arman installs a paint brush environment at the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Nimes.
April:
Brush Strokes paintings are exhibited at the Marisa del Re Gallery, New York City.
May:
He completes installation of a large scale sculpture in Atlanta, Georgia titled « Dyonosis Revealed » for the Portman Company.
He travels to China to participate to the project « Marco Polo Save the Great Wall of China », and creates a work in front of an audience, entitled « Beijing Quartet #1 ».
The work is placed in an auction conducted by Sotheby's for the project.
He creates a large scale sculpture titled « Venus Des Arts » for an installation in Paris, for the Saint Germain Committee.
Summer:
Trophies are created for three different competitions: Gutenberg Book Award, Sailing Award for Loïc Caradec / Atlantic Crossing by Sail, and Equestrian Competition held in Zurich, Switzerland.
He creates designs for « Small Art Objects ». Objects made of precious wood and gold with the participation of renowned jeweller Yves Piaget.
Création of « Turbeau » approximately 9 feet high consisting of an accumulation of boat propellers in bronze is installed at the Notre-Dame-Des-Fleurs castle of Vence.
Autumn:
He creates a trophy for the « Grand Prix International du Document de Creation et
du Prix Jeune Télévision », the festival of
International Télévision (URTI), Monte Carlo.
1989
January:
He completes a sculpture commissioned by the Cartier Foundation titled « Solex Ici et Là ».
February
His first son, Yves Antonio Carlos, born on September 18th 1954, dies in a car accident in Saragossa, Spain.
March:
Arman travels to Korea and Japan for the openings of his solo exhibitions.
A large scale sculpture entitled « Millions of Miles » is created in Chönan, South Korea. It is 65.5 feet (20 meters) high, created out of welded rear truck axles. It is the tallest of Arman’s sculptures to that date.
April:
A group exhibition is scheduled from April to July, titled « Corps / Figures, la Figuration Humaine dans la Sculpture du XXéme Siècle » at Artcurial in Paris.
He completes a project that began in 1986 consisting of monochrome paintings.
May:
He travels to Venice, Alexander, and Athens on a Mediterranean Sea cruise with other contemporary artists, art critics, gallery representatives on the MTS Odysseus.
A public sculpture entitled « Universalities of Wisdom » is completed in San Francisco. Arman participates to the Monte Carlo Sculpture Bienale.
He creates a new series of painting called Shooting Colors.
October 6th:
Birth of Yves César, his sixth and last child, out of mariage with Carrole César.
November:
He receives the medal of the Legion d'Honneur from the French President, François Mitterand.
He prepares a project for « Mixografia » (a patented printing process) at Los Angeles, California.
A large scale sculpture is scheduled to be installed in the Spring of 1990 in Osaka, Japan and another one is scheduled to be installed at a new hotel in South Korea.
1990
Arman travels to the Far East for large scale sculpture projects.
Spring:
He participates in ARCO Contemporain Exposition, Spain.
Swedish Gallery A.H. Grafik publishes « Monochrome Accumulation ». A catalog that lists all the paintings made for this project, with a foreword by Donald Kuspit.
June:
Arman cancels his Retrospective exhibition for the opening of the Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain de Nice (MAMAC) scheduled for June 21, 1990 after anti-Semitic remarks made by Mr. Jacques Médecin, the mayor of Nice.
A large scale sculpture commissioned by BMW is completed, titled « Rêve De Calandres. »
He travels to Sweden to work on a new project, entitled Puristic Monochromes in collaboration with A.H. Grafik.
He begins a new series of serious of paintings called Under the Skin.
Arman designs jewelry for Movado, in collaboration with North American Watch. A part of the sales from the jewelries is donated to the The Learning Through Art Guggehiem Museum Children's Program, New York.
With the help of art caster Regis Bocquel, he finds a casting process on bronze objects that gives them a patina imitating the concretion of objects having remained under water for a long time. The series is titled Atlantis.
Summer:
The « Musée du Dessin et de l'Estampe de Gravelines », France presents Arman’s estampes and etchings from the 1950s to 1990. At the same time, the Catalogue Raisonné about the estampes is introduced (written by Jane Otmezguine and Marc Moreau, published by Marvel, Paris).
1991
A Catalogue Raisonné by Denyse Durand-Ruel, documenting Arman's works from 1960 to 1962 is published.
January:
Arman creates an edition of serigraph to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the Swiss Confederate States.
February:
He travels to Venezuela for the opening of his exhibition at Galleria Freites.
March:
He travels to Italy for an opening, exhibition of his new paintings, Brush Strokes at Fondazione Mudima and at B.& S. Gallery.
April:
He works on a commissioned series of portraits of great composers to be exhibited in Japan.
May:
He designs a crown for the event « Love Ball », a benefit for AIDS research sponsored by DIFFA.
Spring:
A poster for the festival celebrating the anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg, Austria, is made by Arman.
Summer:
New paintings are made, bicycle on canvas.
Fall:
He participates to the first Lyon Biennale d'Art Contemporain where he exhibits new works from Atlantis series:
« Traction Avant - Traction Apres » and « Philemon and Baucis ».
October:
The French Consulate commemorates his 30 years in New York. He designs the Symphony of Love jewelry for Movado.
November:
The Atlantis sculpture series is exhibited for the first time in the United States at Marisa del Re Gallery, New York.
A retrospective exhibition of his works from 1954 to 1991 also opens at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas.
The exhibition will travel to The Brooklyn Museum and The Detroit Institute of Arts. Lectures by the artist accompany each opening of the Retrospective Exhibition.
December:
He travels
to Rome and begins to work on the New Accumulation - Fundamental
Accumulation series of sculptures.
1992
Arman creates an edition of lithographs for the Olympic Continental project, Barcelona, Spain.
February:
A retrospective exhibition opens at The Brooklyn Museum.
He continues to work on the new series of New Accumulation - Fundamental Accumulation, first exhibited in April at the Sonnabend Gallery (in collaboration with Marisa del Re Gallery).
He travels to Martinique where a large-scale sculpture entitled « Larmes de Fonte » is scheduled to be installed.
May:
A exhibition begins in Rome before traveling throughout Italy.
The retrospective exhibition in United States continues onto the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Arman designs a trophy, « Le Trophée Des Arts », commissioned by the French Institute / Alliance Francaise (New York) to be awarded to a French or an American artist for his or her exceptional contribution to French-American relations.
June:
He participates in the International Biennial on Art, Poetry and Ecology, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
June 27th:
His father dies in Vence.
September:
Lectures at Sotheby's, Geneva, Switzerland.
October:
A large scale sculpture, entitled « Les Gourmandes » is installed at Roânne, France.
A special
edition of lithographs and plates are created to celebrate this installation.
1993
Arman designs a fan in Plexiglas, titled « Intermission for the New York Philharmonic ».
May:
He participates in the contemporary art program at Conferences Nimes, France.
July:
The series New Accumulations is exhibited at the new Galerie Beaubourg, Vence, France.
August:
Pierre Cabane publishes a monograph accompanied of an essay about Arman at the Editions La Différence.
Autumn:
Arman begins to work on the Van Gogh Starry Night series of painting.
He is promoted to the grade of Officier dans l'Ordre National du Mérite.
1994
He travels to Bologna, Italy to continue working on a series of accumulations concerning objects in ceramic, in collaboration with the Gallerie d'Arte Maggiore, Bologna, previewed to be exhibited in the fall.
April:
Arman designs the exterior design of a Venturi LM race car previewed to race in the « 24 Heures du Mans » auto race in June.
He travels to Lebanon, Beirut to begin work on project for a monumental sculpture.
Summer:
He participates to the Festival International D'Art Lyrique et de Musique d'Aix-en-Provence, and creates the festival's poster and brochure cover designs.
Fall:
« Cellophilia » is installed at the Broward Performing Art Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
He continues work on the series of the Van Gogh piece Starry Night, which is exhibited at the Marisa Del Re Gallery in New York, and also at the Chateau Notre Dame des Fleurs in Vence, France during December.
He begins to work on a new series of Transculptures which incorporates objects from different families sliced up and intermixed together with bronze classical sculptures.
He works on several design projects including a « suite » for the Hotel Lutetia, Paris and a golf trophy. Plus, he creates a Poster for Nîmes, France.
Various meetings are held with Daniel Abadie for a selection of works in order to prepare a retrospective of his works scheduled for 1996.
He develops a new series of sculptures consisting of objects with related functions contained in metal and wooden boxes: such as coffee pots with coffee grinders, shirts on a coat rack with irons, and sawed wood with hand saws. The series is called Accumulation in Relation.
He receives the medal of "Grand Officier Des Arts et Des Lettres".
1995
Arman continues to work on the Starry Night series throughout the year; and the paintings are shown at the Reflex Gallery in Amsterdam, and later in the year at Ace Contemporary Exhibitions in Los Angeles, California.
He completes series of accumulations of different national currencies in polyester female torsos. The whole work is titled Money Queens and is also shown at the Reflex Gallery.
The Renault Accumulations are exhibited at Galerie George Philippe Vallois in Paris.
Arman creates new Transculptures which are inspired by Paul Valery’s poetry.
He develops a new kind of accumulative sculptures named Cascade.
July:
Transculptures are shown at L'Espace Fortant de France in Sète, France.
Work begins on new bronze sculptures which are sliced and reattached with hinges. Because they allow the participation of the viewer : they are called Interactives.
Arman also begins a series titled Hidden Treasures.
He continues traveling to Beirut to work on the monumental sculpture, « Hope For Peace ». The sculpture weighs 4000 tons and consists of military tanks and armored vehicles embedded in a ten-story and 100 feet high pyramid-like structure of cement.
August 2nd:
« Hope For Peace » is unveiled with a opening ceremony.
1996
He travels to Mexico City for the exhibition of his Starry Night series of paintings.
He creates a new large scale sculpture « Captain Nemo ». An accumulation of “perfume stills” in copper, for the group exhibition in Paris « Les Champs de La Sculpture » opening on April 11.
He develops a new technique with classical sculptures enlivened with paintbrushes attached directly to the sculptures.
The Interactives series is exhibited at the Basel Art Fair at the Daniel Blaise Thorens Art Gallery.
March:
The Sidney Janis Gallery presents the Interactive series in March.
Arman also has two exhibitions in Kopellhamn.Sweden; « Oeuvres 1986-4996 », Ny Carlsberg Glytopek and « Œuvres Récentes », Gallerihuset.
A solo exhibition is also held at Guy Pieters Gallery in Knokke-Zoute, Belgium entitled « Accumulation de Collections et Transculptures ».
Summer:
Arman is one of the main contributors of the exhibition Arts Plastiques to be held at the Musee d'Art Contemporain de Nice in the month of June.
He selects objects from his extensive collection of African Art to be exhibited in Marseille in June.
Autumn:
Exhibition
« Arman et l'Art Africain », at Musée national des Arts
d'Afrique et d'Océanie in Paris, France; ends in February of 1997.
1997
January:
Arman gives a lecture at the Michelle Rosenfeld Gallery.
February:
The series Cascade is exhibited at Ileana Sonnabend Galery in New York.
May:
Two exhibitions of Interactives, one at the Gallery RL Beaubourg, Paris, France and one at the Galerie Yeh, Seoul, Korea.
June:
Exhibitions « Accumulations in Relation » at James Mayor Gallery, London. And « Hidden Treasures » at Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris.
The exhibition « Arman et l'Art Africain » travels from Marseille to Paris, continuing on to Germany, New York, South Africa, and United States, Dallas, Texas.
1998
Arman shows some works on paper for the Suisse organisation « L'Association des Amis », Geneva, Switzerland. He makes lectures at l'Ecole des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.
January 16th:
A performance piece, « Hommage to Hypathia » (books scliced and then placed into a plexiglass container.) is presented at the « Maison de l’Europe » for the benefit of Amnesty International.
January 26th:
First Parisian retrospective in a museum, at the Musée du Jeu de Paume.
March 12th:
Exhibition « Variations sur un Lenine » at the Patrice Trigano Gallery, Paris.
He prepares a model (accumulation of bathtubs) for the event « les Bassins mondiaux de l’eau » held in Valencia, Spain.
He works on a project for the new logo for ADC New Millennium spear headed by UNESCO.
New Emersion paintings are in progress.
He works on a project for an out door sculpture for the factory of the Société Degrenne, « Matricielle » in Vire. He also designs pieces for their « tableware section ».
Two other monumental sculptures are installed: « Prometheus », in Saarbruke, Germany and « Distillerie Ideologique » at the Champs Elysées roundabout (Paris) for Artcurial.
Preparations are made for an outdoor sculpture for the Ferrari car factory.
He works on a new perfume bottle Mandala.
Exhibition of sliced pianos installation, « Concerto for Four Pianos », at John Gibson Gallery , New York.
Exhibition
of Ceramics at the Garth Clark Gallery, New York.
1999
Unveiling « Rampantes », a bronze Ferrari accumulation, at Imola racing circuit, Italy.
Drawings about Africa a exhibited at Galerie Valérie Cueto, Paris.
The retrospective held in the Musée du Jeu de Paume travels to Israel and Brazil.
Gerald
Pilzer organizes in his Parisian Gallery the first exhibition of the series Emersion.
2000
Arman installs a « Motorcycle Fragmentation » from June 15th to July 28th at the Vallois Gallery in Paris.
He works on a new series Superposition.
July
Exhibition « Arman: La Traversée des Objets » at « Chateau de Ville Neuve », Vence. At the same time, all of the books illustrated by Arman are presented at « la Chapelle des Pénitents-Blancs », Vence.
« Arman », Museuo de Monterrey, Mexique.
« Arman: Racine Carrée de Fragments », Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris.
« Arman », National Museum of History, Taipei, China.
2001
From December 20th 2000 to the 21st of March 2001, French institution « Le Couvent des Cordeliers » presents « Vingt Stations de l’objet » an exhibition in the form of a dialogue between Arman and Umberto Eco.
Exhibition of the Superposition series at Guy Pieters Gallery, Knokke-le-Zoute, Belgium.
Exhibition of Sandwich-Combo series at Marlborough Gallery, New York.
The first retrospective of Arman in his native city is organised in the « Musée d’Art moderne et d’Art contemporain (MAMAC) »: « Arman: Passage à l’Acte », Nice, France.
« Arman », Galerie Belmont, Flims, Switzerland.
« Arman:
En Tout Cas C'est de l’Art », Galleria Dante, Padoue, Italy.
« Arman:
La Traversée des Objets », Venise, Italy.
« Arman:
Vingt Stations de l’Objet », Antibes, France.
« Arman:
Works on Paper », Vila Zanders, Bergisch-Gladbach, Germany.
« Arman:
La Traversée des Objets », Bocca Raton, Florida, USA.
« Arman:
Des Cycles de la Vie », Galerie Anne Lettrée, Luxembourg.
« Arman »,
Galeria de Arte Isabel Aninat, Santiago, Chile
« Arman », Die Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland.
2002
May:
Arman creates the poster for the international tennis tournament Roland Garros.
He inaugurates a new painting technique: Serious Painting.
Summer:
The Galerie Beaubourg at the Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs castle presents an exhibition dedicated to African object accumulations made by Arman.
« Arman: Musique », Kunsthaus Grenchen, Grenchen, Switzerland.
« Arman: Africarmania, Arman et l’Afrique », Galerie Beaubourg, Vence, France.
« Arman: Dix Mots Pour », Sonia Zannettachi Gallery, Switzerland.
« Arman: Œuvre Monumentale », Ville du Lavandou, Le Lavandou, France.
« Arman:Works on Paper », Villa Haiss Museum, Zell, Germany.
« Arman: Fragmentations », FIAC, Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, France.
2003
September:
The Gallery Artsoum presents « Sans papier d’Arman », a series of ink prints representing instruments.
« Arman: A Survey: 1954 – 2002 », Marlborough Gallery, New York.
« Arman: Centomilacenerentole », Dante Vecchiato Galleria d’Arte, Padova, Italy.
« Arman », Museum of Contemporary Art of Teheran, Teheran, Iran.
« Arman: Le Plein de l’Art », Galleria Fonte d'Abisso, Milano, Italy.
2004
January:
Launch of « Arman Inclusion », book by Tita Reut, Cudemo.
The Marlborough Gallery presents for the first time the Serious Paintings series at madrid « Arman Pinturas » Spain
April:
« Arman Peintures », Marlborough Gallery, April 15 June 19, Monaco Monaco.
May:
The monumental sculpture « Contrepoint pour Violoncelle » is inaugurated in front of the Gianadda Foundation, Switzerland.
June:
The « Théâtre de la Photographie et de l’Image » presents Arman’s photographs in an exhibition « Arman Photographe », Nice.
« Arman Armé », Historial de la Grande Guerre, Péronne, France.
« Arman: Interactives and Serious Paintings », Imago Gallery, Palm Desert, California, USA
« Arman: Superpositions », New Art: 38th International Fair for Modern & Contemporary Art, Koln, Germany
« Arman: Opere Recenti », Centro d'Arte Cultura and Bugno Arte Gallery, Venice, Italy
2005
Cudemo Editore publishes the third volume of Arman’s Catalog Raisonné by Denyse Durand-Ruel.
October 22:
Arman dies in New York
2010
« ARMAN », retrospective show at Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Curator J.M. Bouhours, catalog in french.
2011
« ARMAN », retrospective show at Musée Tinguely, Bâle, Switzerland, catalog in german.