CALDER: HE MADE SCULPTURE MOVE
by Joan K. Yanni
Alexander Calder (1898-1976) is known world-wide for developing the mobile—sculpture in motion. MAG's Untitled Mobile (64.27), which was commissioned by Charlotte Whitney Allen, was the first mobile he created for the outdoors.
Calder was born into a family of artists. His grandfather and father were sculptors; his mother was a portrait painter. Alexander Milne Calder, his grandfather, modeled and supervised the hundreds of sculptures in Philadelphia's City Hall complex. His statue of William Penn can still be seen standing high above the city. A. Stirling Calder, Alexander's father, created municipal works that ranged from classical to semi-abstract, such as the monuments in New York's Washington Square and Philadelphia's Logan Circle and Swann Memorial Fountain.
Alexander was born and grew up in the Philadelphia area. He had always been fascinated by clever gadgets: his bedroom was a maze of strings which pulled shades up and down or turned lights on and off. He decided to go to Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken and study engineering, but four years after graduation he gave in to the call of art. In 1923 he registered at the Art Students League in New York, where he studied with Thomas Hart Benton, John Sloan, George Luks and Boardman Robinson. He had an affinity for drawing and was soon making humorous sketches of sporting events and the circus for the National Police Gazette. In 1926 he made his first trip to Paris, and it never lost its lure for him.
Though Calder had gone to Paris to paint, he began creating figures and animals from wire and wood, gradually building up an entire circus of trapeze artists, clowns and trained animals. His unique, whimsical forms attracted the attention of artists and intellectuals: Picasso, Léger, and Miro came to see his Circus. (It still exists today at the Whitney Museum.) He then branched out to caricatures entirely made of linear wire, among them the figure of jazz singer Josephine Baker. His first Paris exhibition took place in 1929.
In 1930 Calder settled in a Paris studio not far from that of Piet Mondrian. His first visit to Mondrian's studio brought the shock of new ideas and new art. The abstract grids and primary-colored squares fascinated him. He painted a few abstracts, then reverted to his three dimensional work—this time using oscillating circles, spheres and rods, which reflected his interest in the solar system and the universe. Calder wanted his works to move, and at first he mechanized his creations. But mechanization brought with it pre-set movements, and he was more interested in chance and the element of surprise. He began to create works that would rely on balance and equilibrium and could be set in motion by a light touch or an air current. Marcel Duchamp christened his sculptures "mobiles." Calder's abstract works were first shown in Paris in 1931. That same year, perhaps because of his success, he married Louisa Cushing James, grandniece of both William and Henry James.
Over the years, Calder's sculptures grew ever larger, until his giant non-moving outdoor sculptures, named "stabiles" by Hans Arp, were large enough for cars and people to pass through. His stabiles can be seen in countries throughout the world, and his mobiles are everywhere—the National Gallery in Washington, MOMA, and the Pittsburgh airport.
It is uncertain when Calder and Charlotte Whitney Allen first met, but landscape architect Fletcher Steele brought them together in 1932 when Steele was planning her garden. "Green gardens" were in vogue in the late 1920s and '30s, and it is said that Mrs. Whitney disliked the sight of faded flowers, so her garden was to consist of green plants and shrubs, with Calder's mobile adding a touch of color. Gaston Lachaise's Fountain Figure, now in storage, was to be the focal point of the garden.
Through the garden, Calder and Mrs. Whitney formed a warm friendship. His Circus was shown at her Oliver Street home on two different occasions, and he made small gifts for her. A Happy Birthday mobile, jewelry, and other mementos from Calder have come to the Gallery through Mrs. Allen, as has the Flat Cat, a small oak sculpture which she bought at a show at Smith College. (Calder wrote her that it was possibly the first wood sculpture he ever made). Of Untitled Mobile, Calder wrote that it consisted of some quite heavy iron discs found in a blacksmith's shop in Rochester and...then welded to rods progressively getting heavier and heavier." It is said that the sculpture was originally painted at a Rochester auto body shop.
Docents, wearing white gloves provided by the curatorial department, are now permitted to touch the mobile gently and set it in motion so that tours can see it move. One never tires of looking at it.
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