拍品专文
This work is registered in the archives of the Calder Foundation, New York, under application number A03005.
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Vital Line: A New York Collection
ALEXANDER CALDER (1898-1976)
Crossed Blades (intermediate maquette)
细节
ALEXANDER CALDER (1898-1976)
Crossed Blades (intermediate maquette)
sheet metal and paint
85 x 77 x 73 in. (215.9 x 195.6 x 185.4 cm.)
Executed in 1967.
Crossed Blades (intermediate maquette)
sheet metal and paint
85 x 77 x 73 in. (215.9 x 195.6 x 185.4 cm.)
Executed in 1967.
来源
Estate of the artist
The Pace Gallery, New York, 1990
Chalk & Vermilion Fine Arts, Greenwich, 1990
LS Art, Geneva
Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, 2000
James Goodman Gallery, New York, 2002
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, 2002
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2002
The Pace Gallery, New York, 1990
Chalk & Vermilion Fine Arts, Greenwich, 1990
LS Art, Geneva
Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, 2000
James Goodman Gallery, New York, 2002
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, 2002
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2002
出版
B. Mancewicz, "Sculptor Calder Is Warm, Unpretentious," Grand Rapids Press, 30 June 1968, p. 63 (illustrated).
B. Mancewicz, Alexander Calder. A Pictorial Essay, Grand Rapids, 1969, p. 22 (illustrated).
W. Helwig, "Calders Werkstatt-Mühle," Rheinische Post, 8 March 1969, p. 106 (illustrated).
H. H. Arnason and U. Mulas, Calder, New York, 1971, pp. 70-71 (illustrated).
Calder's Universe, exh. cat., New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1976, p. 309 (illustrated).
Calder ou l'équilibre poétique, exh. cat., Paris, Hôtel Dassault, 2005, p. 10 (illustrated).
50 Years at Pace, exh. cat., New York, Pace Gallery, 2010, p. 118 (illustrated).
The Calder Prize 2005-2015, exh. cat., London, Pace Gallery, 2016, p. 9 (illustrated).
B. Mancewicz, Alexander Calder. A Pictorial Essay, Grand Rapids, 1969, p. 22 (illustrated).
W. Helwig, "Calders Werkstatt-Mühle," Rheinische Post, 8 March 1969, p. 106 (illustrated).
H. H. Arnason and U. Mulas, Calder, New York, 1971, pp. 70-71 (illustrated).
Calder's Universe, exh. cat., New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1976, p. 309 (illustrated).
Calder ou l'équilibre poétique, exh. cat., Paris, Hôtel Dassault, 2005, p. 10 (illustrated).
50 Years at Pace, exh. cat., New York, Pace Gallery, 2010, p. 118 (illustrated).
The Calder Prize 2005-2015, exh. cat., London, Pace Gallery, 2016, p. 9 (illustrated).
展览
New York, Pace Gallery, Calder's Calders, May-June 1985.
New York, Pace Gallery, Calder: Stabiles, May-June 1989, p. 17 (illustrated; titled Stabile).
Greenwich, Bruce Museum, The Mobile, the Stabile, the Animal: Wit in the Art of Alexander Calder, September-December 1995, pp. 14 and 42 (illustrated).
New York, Pace Gallery, Calder: Stabiles, May-June 1989, p. 17 (illustrated; titled Stabile).
Greenwich, Bruce Museum, The Mobile, the Stabile, the Animal: Wit in the Art of Alexander Calder, September-December 1995, pp. 14 and 42 (illustrated).
更多详情
“When I use two or more sheets of metal cut into shapes and mounted at angles to each other, I feel that there is a solid form, perhaps concave, perhaps convex, filling in the dihedral angles between them. I do not have a definite idea of what this would be like. I merely sense it and occupy myself with the shapes one actually sees.” Alexander Calder
An exhilarating comingling of poetic form and technical prowess, Crossed Blades (intermediate maquette) is a crucial example of the exploratory and experimental nature of Alexander Calder’s work. Realized during the peak of his revolutionary career, this imposing stabile clearly illustrates the artist’s need to lay bare his processes in the service of a more pure form. The late 1960s were an especially busy and productive time for Calder as he began to work in earnest following a number of large exhibitions and commissions. Especially of note were his increasingly complex and substantial public sculptures which began to be displayed around the world. Standing at a little over seven feet tall, the present example is an iconic representation of the sculptor’s meticulous workmanship. It precedes the monumental thirty-six feet tall version, Crossed Blades (1967), publicly installed in Australia Square in Sydney. With each iteration, one can see Calder’s unique approach to composition and creative problem solving as spines of steel and sharp shapes converge into a unified whole.
Assembled from large panels of painted black sheet metal, Crossed Blades (intermediate maquette) is an elegant treatise on Calder’s ability to coax lyrical beauty from seemingly simple materials. The main body of the work takes the form of a truncated triangle intersected by another blade-like form. Notably, the sculpture itself rests directly on the ground, a divergence from sculptural traditions up until that time. Rather, the more robust forms become both the base and the body in one fluid motion. Merging with this visual and physical anchor are two graceful arcs that come together at a point to form a divided curve. Their outermost tips seem to just barely touch the ground like the jutting tip of a Gothic flying buttress or the fin of some spindly craft from science fiction. This marriage of forms is typical of Calder, and his interest in playing with positive and negative space cannot be overstated. “When I use two or more sheets of metal cut into shapes and mounted at angles to each other,” he once noted while discussing his stabiles, “I feel that there is a solid form, perhaps concave, perhaps convex, filling in the dihedral angles between them. I do not have a definite idea of what this would be like. I merely sense it and occupy myself with the shapes one actually sees” (A. Calder, “What Abstract Art Means to Me,” The Museum of Modern Art Bulletin 18, no. 3, spring 1951).
Throughout his career, Calder was deeply concerned with the tangible presence of his work and how it interacted with the physical world. He was constantly experimenting with the ways in which a variety of shapes could join together into a harmonious whole. Sitting at his workbench with pieces of metal and an array of tools, he carefully assembled delicate forms from tactile industrial materials. “If a plate seems flimsy,” the artist explained matter-of-factly, “I put a rib on it, and if the relation between the two plates is not rigid, I put a gusset between them… How to construct them changes with each piece; you invent the bracing as you go, depending on the form of each object” (A. Calder, quoted in R. Osborn, “Calder’s International Monuments,” Art in America, 1969, p. 49). Finessing the balance of various shapes within his forms, he established poetic juxtapositions on a small scale before fabricating the larger stabiles. This process of creation was a critical step in his understanding of the work, and it had its roots in his earlier career as tin snips and bits of wire were employed to create some of the first of his now-legendary mobiles. From these dynamic constructions came a better understanding of how movement could be imbued into even static shapes. The result was a nuanced understanding of form and space, and above all the interaction between the two, which remained pivotal to the sculptor’s work throughout his illustrious career.
An exhilarating comingling of poetic form and technical prowess, Crossed Blades (intermediate maquette) is a crucial example of the exploratory and experimental nature of Alexander Calder’s work. Realized during the peak of his revolutionary career, this imposing stabile clearly illustrates the artist’s need to lay bare his processes in the service of a more pure form. The late 1960s were an especially busy and productive time for Calder as he began to work in earnest following a number of large exhibitions and commissions. Especially of note were his increasingly complex and substantial public sculptures which began to be displayed around the world. Standing at a little over seven feet tall, the present example is an iconic representation of the sculptor’s meticulous workmanship. It precedes the monumental thirty-six feet tall version, Crossed Blades (1967), publicly installed in Australia Square in Sydney. With each iteration, one can see Calder’s unique approach to composition and creative problem solving as spines of steel and sharp shapes converge into a unified whole.
Assembled from large panels of painted black sheet metal, Crossed Blades (intermediate maquette) is an elegant treatise on Calder’s ability to coax lyrical beauty from seemingly simple materials. The main body of the work takes the form of a truncated triangle intersected by another blade-like form. Notably, the sculpture itself rests directly on the ground, a divergence from sculptural traditions up until that time. Rather, the more robust forms become both the base and the body in one fluid motion. Merging with this visual and physical anchor are two graceful arcs that come together at a point to form a divided curve. Their outermost tips seem to just barely touch the ground like the jutting tip of a Gothic flying buttress or the fin of some spindly craft from science fiction. This marriage of forms is typical of Calder, and his interest in playing with positive and negative space cannot be overstated. “When I use two or more sheets of metal cut into shapes and mounted at angles to each other,” he once noted while discussing his stabiles, “I feel that there is a solid form, perhaps concave, perhaps convex, filling in the dihedral angles between them. I do not have a definite idea of what this would be like. I merely sense it and occupy myself with the shapes one actually sees” (A. Calder, “What Abstract Art Means to Me,” The Museum of Modern Art Bulletin 18, no. 3, spring 1951).
Throughout his career, Calder was deeply concerned with the tangible presence of his work and how it interacted with the physical world. He was constantly experimenting with the ways in which a variety of shapes could join together into a harmonious whole. Sitting at his workbench with pieces of metal and an array of tools, he carefully assembled delicate forms from tactile industrial materials. “If a plate seems flimsy,” the artist explained matter-of-factly, “I put a rib on it, and if the relation between the two plates is not rigid, I put a gusset between them… How to construct them changes with each piece; you invent the bracing as you go, depending on the form of each object” (A. Calder, quoted in R. Osborn, “Calder’s International Monuments,” Art in America, 1969, p. 49). Finessing the balance of various shapes within his forms, he established poetic juxtapositions on a small scale before fabricating the larger stabiles. This process of creation was a critical step in his understanding of the work, and it had its roots in his earlier career as tin snips and bits of wire were employed to create some of the first of his now-legendary mobiles. From these dynamic constructions came a better understanding of how movement could be imbued into even static shapes. The result was a nuanced understanding of form and space, and above all the interaction between the two, which remained pivotal to the sculptor’s work throughout his illustrious career.
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