This rubber stamp of a paint brush/multiple was created by Arman for The Stamp Art Museum and Gallery. The stamp is housed in a wooden box that has a label with text by John Held Jr. adhered to the inside of its lid. The text reads: “From 1954 through 1960, the French artist Arman created the first sustained series of rubber stamp works in the fine arts since the Stempelbilder of Merz artist Kurt Schwitters in the early twenties. Arman called these rubber stamp works Cachets. In 1960, Arman created a work titled, The Last Cachet. Now after thirty-five years, Arman has returned to the rubber stamp medium, creating nine new designs, which The Stamp Art Gallery has produced. On November 18, 1996, interviewed in preparation for a major essay on the Cachets, Arman began drawing familiar icons of his oeuvre: crushed paint tubes, coffee and tea pots, and artist brushes. The paint brush, and other tools of the artist, have figured prominently in Arman's work for many years. The Stamp Art Gallery is honored to have assisted in the production of this box set of a rubber stamp designed Arman expressly realized for The Art Gallery exhibition. Design: Picasso Galione. Text: John Held, Jr. The Stamp Art Museum and Gallery. 466 8th Street, San Francisco. CA 94103.”

Arman (Armand Fernandez) (1928-2005) was a painter who first created works made from the ink or paint traces of objects ("cachet", "allures d'objet”) and then moved to making paintings composed of actual objects. Arman developed his most recognizable style between the years 1959 to 1962. It centered on his two most renowned concepts: "Accumulation" and "Poubelle" (French for "trash bin"). The accumulations are collections of multiple common and identical objects arranged in polyester castings or within Plexiglas cases and the "Poubelles" are collections of strewn refuse.