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Alexander's JewelsCalder Jewelry
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Alexander Calder invented the mobile. Like many artists there is so much more to him than the work for which he is most identified. |
Paintings, lithographs, toys and tapestry were all part of his oeuvre as was his jewelry designs. In fact Calder created 1800 jewelry objects all were hand-made.
Born in 1898, his father was Alexander Stirling Calder a noted sculptor. His mother was the portraitist Nanette Lederer Calder. Though they encouraged their son's creativity as a child, they didn't wish the financial uncertainity of an artist's life fostered on their son. Calder opted to study mechanical engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology.
Title: Louisa Calder’s 53rd Birthday Gift pin, 1958
Artist: Alexander Calder (American 1898-1976)
Medium: Gold and Steel Wire
Dimensions: 2 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches
Inscription: “XIX.II.LVIII”
Private Collection, New York
© 2007 Calder Foundation, New York
Image Courtesy: Norton Museum of Art
Calder's artistic eye didn't desert him. While working as a fireman on a passenger ship, the H. F. Alexander, his eye caught the moon setting on one horizon and the sun rising on the opposite horizon at the same time. This view, seen off the coast of Guatemala, stayed with him. It inspired him to study art and make it his life's work.
As a child Calder would create jewelry for his older sister's dolls often made from discard pieces of copper wife. Throughout his life he gifted jewelry usually to family and friends. Naturally his wife, Louisa James Calder, received many such gifts. She would leave them on her dressing table.
Often he would use the recipient's name or monogram as the pattern for the piece. Some of his friends who received these gifts were Pilar Miró wife of the artist Joan Miró; Teeny Matisse Duchamp, wife of Marcel Duchamp; Jeanne Buñuel, wife of the film-maker Luis Buñuel; and Bella Chagall, wife of Marc Chagall
Some of these pieces form part of an exciting exhibition celebrating Calder's jewellery, that is currently on display at the Norton Museum of Art.
Title: Necklace, c. 1940
Artist: Alexander Calder (American 1898-1976)
Medium: Brass Wire
Dimensions: 8 1/8 x 6 3/4 x 4 1/2 inches
Inscription: “CS”
Private Collection, New York
© 2007 Calder Foundation, New York
Image Courtesy: Norton Museum of Art
“Although the art of Calder has been widely celebrated and examined in numerous museum and gallery exhibitions, his work in the field of jewelry is far less known,” said Mark Rosenthal, Adjunct Curator of Contemporary Art to the Norton Museum of Art,” This exhibition further demonstrates why he is considered to be one of the most innovative modern American artists.”
Norton Museum of Art Director, Christina Orr-Cahall added, “for Alexander Calder, each piece of jewelry was a work of sculptural art. His inventive jewelry techniques echoed those used for his world-famous sculptures.”
Calder Jewelry
Norton Museum of Art:
February 23 – June 15, 2008
Philadelphia Museum of Art:
July 12 – October 19, 2008
Metropolitan Museum of Art:
December 8, 2008 – March 1, 2009
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin:
March 31 - June 22, 2009