Calder: Paris

French Version

 

‘‘Calder, capable of drawing in space with wire, who seemed able to lighten metal and who gave movement to sculpture.’’
Rosa Maria Malet

 

 

Alexander Calder maintained a deep and enduring connection with Paris, where he settled in 1926 and where his work took a decisive turn. It was within a thriving artistic environment that he engaged with the avant-garde and formed friendships with major figures, notably Joan Miró. In 1930, a visit to Piet Mondrian’s Paris studio had a profound effect on him and completely transformed his approach to art. From then on, Calder gradually moved away from figuration to explore abstraction, developing an entirely new sculptural language based on movement, which would give rise to his famous mobiles, a term coined by Marcel Duchamp.

A pivotal moment in this Parisian period was his participation in the 1937 Paris World Fair. For the Spanish Republic Pavilion, Calder created the remarkable Mercury Fountain. As Rosa Maria Malet emphasises in her text written specifically for the exhibition, this exceptional work—using a material as unusual as liquid mercury—denounced the violence of the Spanish Civil War, particularly in the mining region of Almadén. The dense, flowing metal, set in motion through a mechanical system, endowed the piece with both a poetic presence and a powerful political charge.

In February 1966, Galerie Maeght celebrated the artist with an exhibition featuring 13 totems and 27 gouaches. Issue no. 156 of “Derrière le Miroir”, the renowned French art magazine published by the gallery, honoured him. The publication portrays Calder through a refined layout, depictions of his works and critical analyses of his work, reflecting his creativity and the international recognition he had by then achieved. French poet Jacques Prévert, an active contributor to the publication, dedicated to him the poem “Oiseleur du fer,” eloquently capturing the essence of his artistic practice.

Thus, Paris was not merely a place of passage for Calder, but a true artistic and intellectual anchor, where his major innovations and commitments crystallised. It was here that he invented a new way of thinking about sculpture: free, dynamic, and deeply rooted in his contemporary time.