Page 76 - Contemporary Art and Old Masters

The exhibition will take as a point of departure the idea
that Alexander Calder (American, 1898– 1976) assumed
the unofficial role of the Museum’s “house artist” during
its formative years. His work was first exhibited at MoMA
ALEXANDER CALDER: in 1930, months after the institution opened its doors, and
MODERN FROM THE START he was among only a handful of artists selected by the
Museum’s founding director, Alfred H. Barr Jr., for inclusion
March 14, 2021 – January 15, 2022
in his two landmark 1936 exhibitions, Cubism and Abstract
The Museum of Modern Art
Art and Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism. To inaugurate the
then-new Goodwin and Stone Building in 1939, Calder was
commissioned to make a hanging mobile for its interior
“Bauhaus Staircase”; the resulting Lobster Trap and Fish Tail
still hangs there today.
The Museum of Modern Art announces Alexander Calder:
Modern from the Start, a focused look at one of the most
Calder also worked closely with curator James Johnson
wellknown and beloved artists of the 20th century through
Sweeney, in collaboration with artists Marcel Duchamp and
the lens of his relationship with MoMA. On view from March
Herbert Matter, on the checklist, catalogue, and installation
14, 2021, through January 15, 2022 Alexander Calder: Modern
of his major 1943 midcareer retrospective at MoMA, which
from the Start will include approximately 70 artworks paired
introduced the artist, by then already known in Europe, to a
with film, historical photographs, and other archival materials
broad American audience, through a survey of work made
drawn from MoMA’s collection and augmented by key loans
since his foundational years in the late 1920s living and
from the Calder Foundation, New York. The exhibition is
working in Paris, at the heart of the international avantgarde.
organized by Cara Manes, Associate Curator, with Zuna
Maza and Makayla Bailey, Curatorial Fellows, Department of Alexander Calder. Black Widow. 1959. Painted sheet steel. 7'8 x 14'3 x 7'5″
Painting and Sculpture. (233.3 x 434.1 x 226.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Mrs. Simon
Guggenheim Fund. © 2021 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights
Society (ARS), New York

76 WORLD of ART