Alexander Calder: Modern from the Start

- Blurb -

One of the most beloved American artists of the last century, Alexander Calder reimagined sculpture as an experiment in space and motion. He upended centuries-old notions that sculpture should be static, grounded, and dense by making artworks that often move freely, interacting with their surroundings. Calder' s ever-changing artworks invite a viewer' s sustained attention; over the course of many decades, The Museum of Modern Art provided a setting for this productive exchange. Alexander Calder: Modern from the Start looks at Calder' s work through the lens of his connection with MoMA, taking as a point of departure the idea that Calder assumed the unofficial role of the Museum' s "house artist" during its formative years. His work was first exhibited at MoMA in 1930, months after the institution opened its doors, and he was among only a handful of artists selected by the Museum' s founding director, Alfred H. Barr Jr. , for inclusion in his two landmark 1936 exhibitions, Cubism and Abstract Art and Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism. He was called upon to produce several commissioned works-including Lobster Trap and Fish Tail, a multicolored mobile that hangs in the same stairwell for which it was made in 1939-and his sculptures have been a mainstay of the Museum' s galleries and Sculpture Garden ever since. Following a loose chronology, the catalogue presents examples from the full scope of Calder' s work, from the earliest wire sculptures of the 1920s through the largescale mono- and polychrome stabiles and standing mobiles of his later years. An essay by curator Cara Manes traces Calder' s rich relationship with MoMA, fueled by new research from the archives of the Museum and the Calder Foundation.