alexander calder ~ ink on paper, 1925

While researching yesterday’s post, I discovered these wonderful ink on paper paintings by Alexander Calder…they date back to 1925 while he was a student at the Art Students League in New York…it was that same year he made his first sculpture and just one year later, in 1926, he left for Paris to study at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere…his years in Paris opened his eyes to a whole new world of innovation and experimentation…he met other artists living in Paris, including surrealist Joan Miro and Piet Mondrain, whose abstract paintings inspired him to “make living paintings, shapes in motion.”

May these early Calder paintings brighten your day! Happy weekend!

photos from The Pace Gallery

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calder 1941 ~ the pace gallery

With thoughts of yesterday’s post still fresh in my mind, I couldn’t help but reflect on the work of Alexander Calder…his ground-breaking fusion of art and engineering has inspired so many…when I look at his pieces, I feel transported to my childhood…a place filled with wonder and freedom…what a magical gift

The Pace Gallery, in collaboration with the Calder Foundation, presents Calder 1941, an exhibition focusing on a seminal year in Alexander Calder’s career and the apotheosis of a decade of experimentation following his invention of the mobile in 1931. Calder 1941 is now on view through December 23, 2011 and includes fifteen mobiles and standing mobiles made primarily from sheet metal, wire and paint, many of which have not been on public view for decades, as well as a series of 1941 photographs of the artist’s Roxbury Connecticut studio by celebrated photographer Herbert Matter, which capture many of the works on view.

“The simplest forms in the universe are the sphere and the circle. I represent them by disks and then I vary them… spheres of different sizes, densities, colours and volumes, floating in space, traversing clouds, sprays of water, currents of air, viscosities and odours – of the greatest variety and disparity.” ~ Alexander Calder

The Pace Gallery, 32 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022

photos and resources from the Calder Foundation and The Pace Gallery

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