Alexander Calder
Six Planes Escarpé
1967
Sheet metal, bolts and paint
302.3 x 396.2 x 381 cm / 119 x 156 x 150 in
‘Calder in the Alps’ – Hauser & Wirth Outdoor Sculpture From 14 July to 30 September 2016, Hauser & Wirth presents an exhibition of outdoor monumental sculptures by Alexander Calder, marking the first time this remarkable body of work has been exhibited in Switzerland.]]>
Source: Hauser & Wirth
Situated against Gstaad’s dramatic mountainous landscape, the exhibition comprises a standing mobile and five stabiles from the 1960s and 1970s, which are installed in public locations including at Lauenensee, Kirche Saanen, on the Promenade and in the grounds of Le Grand Bellevue hotel in Gstaad.
Calder concentrated his efforts on making outdoor sculptures on a monumental scale during the later part of his career, turning his attention to major commissions for cities, museums and universities around the world – working with renowned architects along the way. A paradigm shift in the history of twentieth-century sculpture, his large-scale works in industrial materials reveal the artist’s lifelong fascination with energy and space, creating a new relationship between object and environment. With these graceful and fluid works, Calder truly unleashed his creativity and genius for compositional balance, imbuing traditional sculptural form with a dynamism and torsion that belies its static nature.
Among the works on view is ‘3 flèches blanches’ (1965), which stands out for its elegant motion as the only standing mobile on display. Exhibited for the first time in the artist’s posthumous retrospective in Turin in 1983, the seemingly delicate sculpture can hold its own, whether in front of Mies van de Rohe’s Seagram Building in New York City, where it was last installed, or alongside the dramatic rural landscape of Gstaad.
‘Tripes’ (1974) has a surprising curvaceous quality not usually associated with Calder’s monumental works. With biomorphic arms reaching out in a multitude of directions, the work radiates energy, activating the surrounding space.
Related content
‘Alexander Calder: Performing Sculpture’ at Tate Modern (exhibition, 2015)
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