Calder & Miró
The Phillips Collection
October 9 through January 23, 2005
Friendship among artists was exemplified between Joan Miró and Alexander Calder. They were inspiration to one another throughout their artistic careers.
They even collaborated while producing works for the Spanish Pavilion at the Paris World Fair, 1937, and the following decade at the Terrace Plaza Hotel in
Cincinnati, Ohio.
Alexander Calder
The American born sculptor Alexander Calder is credited with inventing
the artistic form of mobiles. He pioneered Kinetic Art, which is art
that has or appears to have movement.
Joan Miró
Surrealism is generally associated with the works of Joan Miró, a Barcelona native. Turbulent times surrounded
his life . The artist enjoyed spending his winters in Paris from 1919 through 1936 but this was curtailed with
the onset of the Spanish Civil War. He briefly made Paris his home until returning to Spain in 1940 to avoid the Nazi occupation of France.
Miró was considered to be a private man who gave voice to his loathing of Picasso's hunger for fame. His influences
included Fauvism, Cubism and Dadaism.
Friendship
Alexander Calder and Joan Miró began a friendship that would span
nearly half a century. It was in the Roaring Twenties that each artist
made a visit to the other's studio, embarking on a relationship of mutual
respect and admiration.
Besides art the two shared an interest in the circus which was reflected in their works. Calder's abstract Circus Scene and
Arching Man were favorites of Miró who called these wire figures "drawing in thin air." Miró
Carnival of Harlequin and Circus Horse form part of the exhibit on this
shared artistic theme.
The Exhibition
"Calder and Miró pushed beyond traditional modes of
painting to create some of the most important art of the 20th Century,"
explains Jay Gates, Director, The Phillips Collection. Adding, "In its
celebration of the creative and personal affinities of these beloved
artists, and the qualities of exuberance and play in these works.
Calder Miró finds a natural home in the intimate setting Duncan
Phillips created to share the joy he found in art."
Their forced separation during the Second World War demonstrated their
influence upon one another. Each man
endeavored to
create works that placed complex forms balanced against length of line to produce a miniscule view of their cosmic vision. This exhibit will be the first
time that their respective works of this period are together. It is a measure of each man's character that they appreciated the creativity of the other in friendship and respect not rivalry.
The Phillips Collection is the only North American venue for Calder
Miró. The exhibition
was co-organized with the
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel.
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