Calder and Abstraction: From Avant-Garde to Iconic

Recognized as one of the greatest pioneers of abstract modern sculpture, American artist Alexander Calder's (1898-1976) large-scale iconic works have become landmarks in cities around the world. One of these sculptures is the Three Quintains (Hello Girls), a large scale outdoor fountain at Los Angeles County Museum of Art Director's Roundtable Garden in the east side of campus, commissioned for the opening of LACMA's Hancock Park campus in 1964.

In cooperation with Calder Foundation, New York, soon opening at LACMA is Calder and Abstraction: From Avant-Garde to Iconic, the first Calder Los Angeles exhibit, spanning over forty years of the artist's career. Organized in chronological order, the exhibit displays approximately fifty abstract sculptures of some of Calder’s most notorious works including mobiles, stabiles, and maquettes (or models) for larger outdoor works.

An introduction by Alexander Calder's grandson and Calder Foundation President, Sandy Rower, points to the details in the work’s inspiration of three-dimensional abstractions of nature, the universe, and weightlessness.

Dating from the time Calder spent in Paris are the early wire sculptures (1926-1933) in which several parts form one coherent work, including Croisiere (1931), Object of Red Ball (1931), and Small Feathers (1931), notes Lauren Bergman, Assistant Curator of Modern Art at LACMA.

Calder's early iconic work consisted
predominantly of 'mobiles', a term coined by Marcel Duchamp in 1931, where parts of hanging kinetic sculptures are stirred and reshaped by air currents while emitting sounds from connecting metals. Providing great presence is Calder's Eucalyptus (1940), as well as Constellation Mobile (1943), and La Demoiselle (1939).

Calder's work then gradually evolved towards more muscular, thick steel, 'stabiles' sculptures, a term coined by Jean Arp in 1932, consisting of stationary abstract sculptures often blended with mobiles, such as the iconic Laocoön (1947) from Eli and Edythe Broad collection, and Red Disk (1947), a sculpture that is balanced with no mount to hold it down.

Among Calder's latest works (displayed at LACMA) are the monumental size, La Grande Vitesse (intermediate maquette, 1969), Three Segments (1973), and Angulaire (1975).

Also on view are several Calder's public sculptures' maquettes with accompanying images for comparison, including Teodelapio (1962) in Spoleto, Italy, Trois Pics (1966) in Montreal, Canada, Les Aretes de Poisson (1965) in Kadagawa, Japan, and Southern Cross (1969) in Villeneuve d'Ascq, France.

Organized by LACMA's Senior Curator of Modern Art, Stephanie Barron, and designed by Frank O. Gehry's Partners, related art pieces are juxtaposed, enhancing both intimate and panoramic views, while providing a multidimensional context and feel to the sculptures' surrounding space and motion.

The exhibit runs from November 24, 2013, to July 27, 2014, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Resnick Pavilion, located at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036. For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit http://www.lacma.org/

Calder and Abstraction is organized in collaboration with the Calder Foundation, New York. After its presentation in Los Angeles, the exhibition travels to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA (September 6, 2014-January 4, 2015).