Early in his career, Jean (Hans) Arp began to create wooden relief sculptures based on the traditions of assemblage and collage. Constellation-Punctuation hails from a series of reliefs Arp initiated in 1929 called “Arranged According to the Laws of Chance,” which originated in collages and evolved to signify the heart of Arp’s philosophical approach to artmaking. The oval and teardrop shapes are simplified forms from nature that Arp, in his owns words, “reduced . . . to moving ovals, symbols of growth, and metamorphosis of bodies.”

Label from Artists in Depth: Arp, Miró, Calder, March 25, 2011–April 15, 2012