Calder Jewelry
Grand Rapids Art Museum
January 29 - April 18, 2010
Made possible by
Kate and Richard Wolters Foundation
Daniel and Pamella DeVos Foundation
Warner, Norcross & Judd LLP
Gregory and Rajene Betz
BDO Seidman, LLP
Dirk and Victoria Hoffius
Stephen and Susan Hoffius
Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett LLP
Conrad and Molly Bradshaw
John Hunting
Martin and Enid Packard
Greg and Meg Willit
Alexander Calder (1898–1976) was a sculptor, painter, printmaker, designer, and performance artist. The first gift that he gave his future wife Louisa James was a bracelet he made of hammered brass. In 1930 she wrote to her mother, “Sandy appreciates and enjoys the things in life that most people haven’t the sense to notice… He has tremendous originality, imagination, and humor, which …make life colorful and worthwhile.” In that year Calder gave Louisa an engagement ring he made in gold.
Calder designed and produced more than 1800 works of jewelry, including hundreds of gifts for Louisa. He made jewelry for family members and friends, such as Peggy Guggenheim and Georgia O’Keeffe, and exhibited his jewelry in gallery exhibitions, avoiding precious materials to keep the works affordable. He consciously referenced primitive art and Surrealism in many of the designs that often appear to be small studies for sculpture or drawings in wire.
Calder Jewelry commences the Centennial Year of the Grand Rapids Art Museum (1910–2010), recalling Calder’s historic association with the Museum during the 1969 installation of La Grande Vitesse. A combination of sculpture, craft, and design, the 100 necklaces, rings, bracelets, and brooches created from the 1930s through the 1960s introduce a new dimension of Alexander Calder’s artistic achievement. These works embody the same humor and invention as his mobiles that came to life as they moved.
The exhibition is co-organized by the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, and the Calder Foundation, New York. The Grand Rapids Art Museum is the final venue for this exhibition, which has been presented at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; and San Diego Museum of Art, California.
Grand Rapids Ballet
In tribute to the Art Museum's Centennial Year and its first major exhibition of 2010, the Grand Rapids Ballet creates an original work based on Calder Jewelry.
A filmed version of the ballet premieres during the Members Preview and will screen through the exhibition.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Calder Jewelry
7:00 pm
Complimentary refreshments and cash bar available
7:30 pm
Film: Calder Jewelry Ballet
Introduced by
Grand Rapids Ballet Company
Artistic Director Gordon Peirce Schmidt
and
Art Museum Music Director Edward Clifford
Original Choreography and Score
Alexander Calder
American, 1898-1976
Necklace, c. 1943
Silver wire, string, and ribbon
Calder Foundation, New York
©Calder Foundation, New Yorl/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York
Photography © 2007 Maria Robledo
