Sophie Taeuber-Arp at MoMA: A Beautiful Show Marred by Controversy

The Museum of Modern Art in New York is hosting "Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Living Abstraction," a comprehensive exhibition of the Swiss artist's work running until March 12, 2022. Taeuber-Arp (1889–1943) created across textiles, decorative arts, puppetry, interior design, architecture, painting, and drawing. The show traces her career from 1914, highlighting how her abstract forms in textiles informed later murals and paintings. She was a key figure in Zurich Dada, participating at Cabaret Voltaire alongside Hans Arp and Tristan Tzara, though her contributions were only recognized posthumously. The exhibition includes her 1918 wooden puppets for the play "King Stag," which were considered too modern by producers but praised by Dadaists. A controversy arose after a New York Times review by Jason Farago accused the museum of suppressing discussion of colonial and ethnographic influences in her work, sparking debate about cancel culture in the US.