Alexander Calder - I believe I can fly

Alexander Calder never goes out of style, but he's never quite in it either. Before children are old enough to respond to Edvard Munch, they (given the chance) love Calder. By adulthood, delight fades to affection.

Like Roethke, Calder mines the transformational mysticism of play.

When I stand, I'm almost a tree.
Leaves, do you like me any?

Bougainvillier (Bougainvillea), 1947, Sheet metal, wire, rod, lead, and paint. Collection of Jon and Mary Shirley.© 2009 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Justin Gollmer


calderblckbase.jpg
Little in Calder's recent exhibits, one at the Whitney and a smaller one at the Museum of Modern Art, helped to redefine his reputation. Charm was abundant, but so was familiarity. The extraordinary had a hard time surfacing within a context that triggered well-worn assumptions.

In contrast, Alexander Calder: A Balancing Act at the Seattle Art Museum is nothing but extraordinary. It's Calder at the top of his game, both playful and profound, and installed with deft wit in the airy light galleries of the still new museum addition. With more than 40 pieces, counting everything but documentary photographs, the exhibit isn't large, but all of it is brilliant.

An alternative title could have been Jon and Mary Shirley Collect Calder, as 95 percent of it is theirs. Their names in lights wasn't an option they favored. Despite a pivotal role in creating the Olympic Sculpture Park, they declined the opportunity to name it for themselves.

From miniature maquettes to the monumental and spanning the artist's career with a concentration on the 1940s, theirs is the finest Calder collection in private hands and one of the finest in existence.

Toile d'Araignee is a sentence diagrammed in white, phrases floating on slender connectives.

Toile d'Araignee (Spider Web), 1965, Sheet metal, rod, wire, and paint. Collection of Jon and Mary Shirley.© 2009 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Justin Gollmer

        


calderwhite.jpgCompared to insects, we are lumbering creatures, but our minds can fine tune themselves to hum, blank but for the tune. 

Untitled, ca. 1948, Sheet metal, wire, wood, string, and paint. Collection of Jon and Mary Shirley.© 2009 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Justin Gollmer

calderdelicatetail.jpg
Calder had a long run as a public artist, rivaled only by Henry Moore. While Moore's hill-and-dale fusion of landscape and female form holds its own in front of even the bleakest corporate building, Calder's efforts tended to grow stale. Mobiles turned to stabiles and stood there. Plop. It's an insult that's hard for them to shake. I like them (who doesn't?), but I don't care about them in any deep way.

Then there's Red Curly Tail: powerfully blunt but still insouciant.

Red Curly Tail, 1970, Painted steel and stainless steel.Collection of Jon and Mary Shirley.© 2009 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Justin Gollmer


caldercurlytail.jpgcalderedcurly3.jpgOne of Calder's great strengths is his ability to shift scale. Renowned for large work, he can be dazzling in the space of a hand's span.

Polychrome Dots and Brass on Red, 1964, Sheet metal, brass, wire and paint. Collection of Jon and Mary Shirley.© 2009 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Justin Gollmer

calderedbasetiny.jpgRoethke, The Dance

Is that dance slowing in the mind of man
That made him think the universe could hum?
The great wheel turns its axle when it can;
I need a place to sing, and dancing room,
And I have made a promise to my ears
I'll sing and whistle romping with the bears.

For they are all my friends: I saw one slide
Down a steep hillside one a cake of ice -
Or was that in a book? I think with pride:
A caged bear rarely does the same thing twice
In the same way: O watch his body sway! -
this animal remembering to be gay.

This show is worth a trip to Seattle. Those who are already in the region can say, lucky us. Through April 11.
October 30, 2009 12:15 PM | | Comments (8) |

8 Comments

By marulis on November 6, 2009 6:23 AM

Wow, Wow and another WOW. I loved this show, and yes, we are so fortunate to have this in our midst. My own humble thank you's to all who were involved. Those who arraigned, those who provided, those who curated, and most of all to the man-child who was the creator.
Please do go and see this show. Only a nitpicking grinch would fail to enjoy what has been put before us. Be sure to do yourself a favor and take the time to sit through the short film "Cirque Calder". This was a wonderful little sit down and respite from the rigors of first thursday's museum crowd.
Suggestively, I would have enjoyed it if there were gentle wind currents throughout that would have kept these creations moving. It was, after all, Calder's intent to keep the viewers visual reality fluid and ever changing. Oscilating fans would have eliminated any predictable patterns and every repeated visit to this show would prove to be a new experience.

By Another Bouncing BallAuthor Profile Page on November 1, 2009 2:29 PM

Thanks Ellen, but I should have said who the curator is: Michael Darling, Michael Darling, Michael Darling. And given dimensions, especially because there's no catalog. Why the hell not?

By Ellen on November 1, 2009 2:19 PM

I didn't go to art museums as a child and was in my 20s before I really started to look at art. Maybe that's why I never cared about Calder. I missed the toddler love stage. I should say I never cared till now. This show blows me away. (Nice review, Regina. Don't listen to all this negative feedback in the comments.)

By Harold on November 1, 2009 9:56 AM

Regina! Alfred is right about the dimensions. When that info isn't on the link, you have to put it in the review. That failure pales next to the failure to say who the curator is. This isn't a traveling show. SAM created it, and the curator is Michael Darling. Say it after me: Michael Darling, Michael Darling, Michael Darling.

By Molly on November 1, 2009 9:35 AM

The best exhibit I've seen in years from an iconic figure. Fresh is too right, Leroy.

By Alfred on October 31, 2009 5:55 PM

That tail on Big Red is very S&M. You should have put the dimensions on your pics. Esp because you wrote about scale shifts. I looked on SAM's website sizes and no luck. No luck on any info. What up with that website? It makes everything look puny.

By Leroy on October 31, 2009 5:30 PM

Playful and profound. For me, the show is mostly a surprise. It's Calder fresh. I was delighted. By the time I got to the film of him and his wife performing the Circus, I was in love.

By Susanne on October 31, 2009 2:02 PM

I am so sick of the Eagle sculpture in the Sculpture Park. I believe that was a "gift" from the Shirleys too. I hope this show can restore some of the artist's previous luster.

Leave a comment

About

Another Bouncing Ball
This blog continues Art To Go, which I wrote as the art critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, beginning at the end of 2007 and continuing through March 15, 2009. ABB is an exploration of art in Seattle that extends outward, both geographically and by topic, touching on art, politics, literature, dance and whatever it is that the cat drags in. Its title comes from a poem by Delmore Schwartz, The Ballad of the Children of the Czar, specifically, "The ground on which the ball bounces/ Is another bouncing ball."
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Regina Hackett ... is the former art critic for the former Seattle P-I. I loved that job every day, but it's gone and I've moved on. As they say in the movies, to infinity and beyond.
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This page contains a single entry by Another Bouncing Ball published on October 30, 2009 12:15 PM.

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