Behind the Easel| ALEXANDER CALDER [LIFE & WORKS]
Hey Steemians how are you? I hope you're all fine! This week has been very interesting, after have been in partial week (partial exams) at my university, I decided to go to my favorite art museum to relax myself; The Caracas’ Museum of fine arts, which had been closed for maintenance and was reopened a short time ago. I went back to appreciate one of the first works I could see from who today is my favorite plastic artist: Alexander Calder. Then, in this post I want to talk about this great sculptor, goldsmith and American designer who would change the artistic panorama and reform the way we conceive the sculpture.
Alexander Calder was born in the United States on July 22, 1898. The boy Calder would grow up in an artistic context from the beginning of his life; His grandfather, who was a sculptor from Scotland, would teach his son (the father of young Alexander) the beautiful World of the arts, which years later would also become a sculptor. In addition, his mother (more inclined to painting) worked as a professional portraitist. Alexander would study mechanical engineering at the Hoboken Technology Institute. Finishing this career, he studies arts at the Art Student league in New York city.
Since childhood he showed his interest in arts and creation by making his own toys based on wire, wood or clay.
The artist's work would evolve from his first works, composed of small pieces of cheap materials, to his monumental works of public character that are exhibited around the world.
Calder´s Circus
His first works consisted in the elaboration of figures corresponding to the world of the Circus, this series titled "cirque calder". The fascinating thing about his circus (which was handled by him and his wife) was that all the pieces were movable, articulated and connected (in some cases) with each other to generate a unique effect, where it acquired life. Many of the figures were made of materials such as wire and wood. This series would be the germ of his future work as a sculptor because his plastic language was already beginning to glimpse. Likewise, his "circus" would attract the attention of many artists and intellectuals who were the assistants of his spectacle.
LINK
hanging mobiles & Stabiles
After venturing into the world of wire with human and animal forms, he begins to explore the world of abstraction (which was emerging around the 1920s and 30s), furthermore being one of the few artists to create a new form in the sculpture: the mobile
The name "mobile " is given by the artist Marcel Duchamp and this refers to a structure composed of plates, discs and metal bars joined by wires that can be blown by the wind and that have a playful aspect. In the words of Duchamp :
“His art is like the sublimation of a tree moving”
At the same time of the development of the mobile, another concept arises different from this one; Static, flashy and with variations in size. This would be baptized as Stabiles which continue the abstract aesthetic, but without movement, and usually represented animal forms.
Both the mobile and the Stabiles threw to Calder to world recognition, because of this the amount of commissions received him absorbed much of his time, causing the production in his other works to diminish, leaving partially in oblivion to Its pieces of jewelry, engraving, textile and sculptures in stone, wood and bronze
Calder´s jewelry collection
Lithography" Homage to the Sun"
Calder was one of the parents of the kinetic movement, concerned to give movement to the artistic pieces, which enclosed in the picture or fixed on the ground was made alien to the dynamic vision of the human being. He was a friend of great artists like Joan Miró, Fernand Ledger, Jean Arp and personalities of the intellectual world as Jean Paul Sartre, Sofía Imber, among others. Sofía Imber along with the architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva would be those who, following his relationship with the artist, would work together to intervene one of the enclosures of the under construction campus of the UCV Ciudad universitaria de caracas. And in this way, Calder Designs a series of plates for the Aula Magna of the UCV, which in addition to decorating the auditorium, would have a utilitarian purpose, helping the acoustics. This room was listed as one of the five best acoustic venues in the world, thanks to the "floating clouds " of the American artist and engineer.
Finally, I show you the first work of Calder that I could appreciate and found in the Museum of Fine Arts in Caracas.
The City
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