CALDER MOBILES-STABILES
Alexander Calde
Alexander Calder: CALDER MOBILES-STABILES. New York: Pierre Matisse Gallery, [1939]. Original edition. Octavo. Single fold brochure announcement on slick multicolor stock. Illustrations by Alexander Calder. Faint parallel fold line, otherwise a fine example.
8.5 x 11 single fold announcement for the Calder Mobiles Stabiles exhibit at the Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, May 9–27, 1939. With sketches of the 15 Mobile Stabiles shown at the show. Alexander Calder changed the very definition of sculpture by perpetually inventing new shapes and forms that necessitated coining the terms "mobile" and "stabile" for description.
The striking mobile sculptures of Alexander Calder are among the most notable and original creations of twentieth-century art. Combining for the first time movement and sculpture, these works represent a new and highly influential departure from the practices of the past.
Sculptor and kinetic artist Alexander Calder (1898 – 1976) was born in Lawnton, Pennsylvania. As the son of two artists, he was encouraged to sculpt and construct things in his own workshop at an early age. In 1919 he graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology with a degree in mechanical engineering, and after holding several jobs, he decided to take classes at the Art Students League in New York City. He began exhibiting his paintings, but also focused on drawing, illustration, and wood and wire sculpture. In 1926 Calder moved to Paris and began making toys for his performance piece, "Cirque Calder." He married Louisa James in 1931 and exhibited his mobiles for the first time the same year. He continued to spend his time between New York and Paris, and he and Louisa also bought a farm in Roxbury, Connecticut. They had two children, Sandra and Mary. Calder befriended many influential artists, including Joan Miró Fernand Léger, Marcel Duchamp, and Yves Tanguy, and joined the Abstraction-Création group in 1931. He exhibited and worked on commissions extensively throughout his career. As a very prolific artist, he had alliances with several galleries, including the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York. Later in his career, Calder began focusing on large-scale outdoor sculptures. He died in 1976 at the age of 78.
From the Guggenheim's website: "Pierre Matisse, son of the Fauvist master Henri Matisse, was a prominent collector of European modern art in the mid-twentieth century. In October 1932, he opened the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York City and served as a champion of the sale and display of European modern art in the United States. In that same year, the gallery exhibited its first show on the Surrealist artist Joan Miro, and Matisse would continue to exhibit Miro more often than any other artist he represented during his illustrious 55-year career."
"During his 60 years as a dealer, Pierre Matisse exhibited some of the greatest artists of this century in his gallery in the Fuller Building at 41 East 57th Street, including modern masters like Miro, Balthus, Chagall, Dubuffet, Tanguy, Mondrian, Giacometti, de Chirico and his own father, Henri Matisse.
"The dealer's passionate belief in his artists was a lonely undertaking. ''In the beginning my father spent a lot of time in the gallery alone,'' his son Paul said. ''Year after year during the 1930's he just sat there believing in the value of these artists when few other people did. There would be hours and hours before anyone would come in.
''I remember once, when he had a Miro show up, all of a sudden this crowd of people came into the gallery and he said he thought, 'Finally his work has been recognized.' You see, the reaction to Miro had often been, 'My kid could do this.' But it was all a big misunderstanding. The group of people were out for St. Patrick's Day and had thought they recognized something in Miro's name.''
"The relationship between Pierre Matisse and his father has always been a subject of speculation. At the 50th anniversary of the gallery, Pierre Matisse told John Russell of The New York Times: ''My father didn't want me to be a dealer. If I'd been a bad writer or a bad musician he wouldn't have minded. But all artists are wary of all dealers, and he just didn't want me to get mixed up with the trade.''
"But Paul Matisse said the letters actually show how close father and son were. ''They are very personal letters that indicated a very strong family attachment,'' he said. ' 'His father would berate him for not writing enough. He had a tremendous interest in Pierre and knowing what he was doing.'' -- Carol Vogel "A Pack Rat's Art Treasures; For Morgan Library, Pierre Matisse's Archives Are a Bonanza," New York Times, July 08, 1998.