Allianzen

Max Bill was still a student when two of his works were exhibited at the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs in Paris in 1925, at the invitation of Sophie Taeuber-Arp. In 1933, back in Paris, the young architect and artist joined an association to which Taeuber-Arp and her husband Hans Arp also belonged: Abstraction-Création. It was the beginning of a fruitful collaboration and a lifelong friendship. The association, which also included Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian and Georges Vantongerloo, collectively decided to turn away from all things figurative, organised exhibitions and published an almanac. Theories were formulated and methods tested. Even after the dissolution of Abstraction-Création, Bill, Arp and Taeuber-Arp remained in contact with each other, firstly through the Swiss group "Allianz" and secondly through the journal Plastique/Plastic, which was intended to promote the transatlantic exchange of the constructivist avant-garde at a time when countless artists had already turned their backs on Europe. Including many materials published for the first time, this volume sheds light on the artistic and intellectual presence of Arp, Taeuber-Arp and Bill in important artists' groups and magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, the emergence of collective forms of communication, forward-looking ideas and works of art.