Alexander Calder
dal 5/9/2013 al 11/1/2014
Segnalato da
5/9/2013
Alexander Calder
K20 Kunstsammlung, Dusseldorf
Avant-Garde in Motion. The focus for the selected works will be the 1930s and 40s and will concentrate on Calder's development of abstract sculptures moved by air currents, the mobiles. During this period, the artist experimented with various artistic directions. His works fell into the gap between Piet Mondrian's geometric images and the playful abstract work of Joan Miro' and Hans Arp.
Curator: Susanne Meyer-Büser
“These hesitations and resumptions, gropings and fumblings, sudden decisions and, most especially, marvelous swan-like nobility make Calder’s mobiles strange creatures, mid-way between matter and life.”
Jean-Paul Sartre, 1946
From September 2013, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf will stage a comprehensive exhibition on the work of Alexander Calder, one of the most important American artists of the 20th century. It is the first time in two decades that the Kunstsammlung has put on a large-scale exhibition by this important sculptor, who shaped art history with his sensual and poetic sculptures. The focus for the selected works will be the 1930s and 40s and will concentrate on Calder's development of abstract sculptures moved by air currents, the mobiles. During this period, the artist experimented with various artistic directions. His works fell into the gap between Piet Mondrian’s geometric images and the playful abstract work of Joan Miró and Hans Arp.
To document Calder's links to European avant-garde art and to enable us to look at the American artist’s works in a new and often surprising light, the exhibition includes historical and experimental films, avant-garde music and works by the most important of his fellow artists. In an exhibition covering more than 1,600 square metres, the visitor can admire a magnificent selection of works by Alexander Calder, on loan from international museums and collections.
Alexander Calder – the Avant-Garde in Motion is on show at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, in two large exhibition halls at the K20 Grabbeplatz in Düsseldorf. In the Klee Hall the visitor will experience Calder's early sculptures – set against works by trend-setting fellow artists, such as Mondrian, Miró and Arp, as well as artistic and documentary films. In the high Grabbehall, by contrast, the large mobiles and stabiles will be exhibited to impressive effect by allowing the individual shapes to move freely. Here the visitor can experience how the artist makes playful use of space and proportions. At various points throughout the exhibition, Calder's mobiles enter into a dialogue with experimental music dating from the 1920s onwards, ranging from compositions by Edgar Varèse to those of John Cage. This illustrates how Calder constantly sought inspiration from other branches of the arts and broadened his own horizons.
Catalog Hirmer Verlag, 144 pages, museum edition 29.00 Euro. Supported by Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung.
Media partner is Handelsblatt
Image: Alexander Calder, Little Spider, ca. 1940, 111,1 x 127 x 139,7 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls, © 2013 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, photo: Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington
Press contact:
Gerd Korinthenberg - Alissa Krusch Tel.: + 49 (0)211.83 81-730 Fax: + 49 (0)211.83 81-201 presse@kunstsammlung.de
Press conference: Sept, 05, 2013, 11 a.m.
Opening Celebration of the Exhibition Friday, September 6th 2013, 7 p.m.
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen
Grabbeplatz 5 40213 Düsseldorf
Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Saturdays, Sundays, holidays 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
1st Wednesday of each month KPMG Kunstabend (free admission from 6 p.m.) 10 a.m.-10 p.m.
closed on December 24, 25 and 31.
Adults 12,00, Combination K20 and K21 EUR 21,00 EUR
Reduced Admission 9,50, Combination K20 and K21 EUR 16,00 EUR
Children and Young People 6 to 18 y or Students/Pupils with ID 2,50 EUR, Combination K20 and K21 EUR 4,00