The Norton Museum of Art to Present First Exhibition of Alexander Calder’s Jewelry February 23 - June 15, 2008


West Palm Beach – The first exhibition devoted exclusively to Alexander Calder’s unique body of jewelry work will be presented at the Norton Museum of Art from February 23, 2008, through June 15, 2008.  Co-organized by the Norton Museum and the Calder Foundation, the exhibition consists of approximately 100 objects, including necklaces, bracelets, brooches, earrings and tiaras. Calder Jewelry demonstrates how the artist’s jewelry has the same dynamic and dimensional aspects as his celebrated mobiles, which revolutionized the art of sculpture.  Following its debut at the Norton, Calder Jewelry will travel to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (July 12 – October 19, 2008), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (December 8, 2008 – March 1, 2009), and the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (March 31 – June 22, 2009).

“For Alexander Calder, each piece of jewelry was a work of sculptural art.  His inventive jewelry techniques echoed those used for his world-famous sculptures,” said Norton Museum of Art Director, Christina Orr-Cahall. “The Norton is delighted to organize and present this unprecedented exhibition.”

Organized as a collaboration between Alexander S.C. Rower, Chairman and Director of the Calder Foundation and Mark Rosenthal, Adjunct Curator of Contemporary Art to the Norton Museum of Art, Calder Jewelry provides a full examination of the artist’s achievement in the realm of jewelry.

“Although the art of Calder has been widely celebrated and examined in numerous museum and gallery exhibitions, his work in the field of jewelry is far less known,” said Mark Rosenthal,” This exhibition further demonstrates why he is considered to be one of the most innovative modern American artists.”

Throughout his life Calder produced more than 1800 jewelry objects, each made entirely by hand.  He never intended for his jewelry to be mass-produced and often gave examples to family and friends on special occasions.  The first recipient of the artist’s jewelry was his older sister, who as a child received pieces intended for her dolls made from discarded copper wire.  As an adult, Calder made countless gifts of jewelry for his wife, Louisa James Calder, so many that her dressing table became a kind of private shrine in honor of his devotion to her.  Alexander S.C. Rower, the artist’s grandson, said, "When I was a child, my grandmother’s bureau always seemed a mysterious altar."

Calder’s circle of friends and admirers included well-known personalities from Europe and America.  The exhibition includes many examples of the jewelry he most often created from a recipient's monogram or by shaping the person's name into a decorative pattern.  Among the recipients of these were Pilar Miró, wife of the artist Joan Miró; Teeny Matisse Duchamp, wife of Marcel Duchamp; Jeanne Buñuel, wife of the film-maker Luis Buñuel; and Bella Chagall, wife of Marc Chagall.  The interaction of text and design in these objects furthers the playful use of language that was occurring among Surrealist artists of the time.

Calder Jewelry is accompanied by a companion book published by The Calder Foundation.  It contains newly commissioned, full-color photographs by still life and portrait photographer Maria Robledo, a frequent contributor to The New York Times and Town & Country.  The book is edited by Alexander S. C. Rower and Holton Rower, with essays by Mark Rosenthal and Jane Adlin that discuss the relationship of these objects to the artist’s other endeavors and the objects relation to the history of jewelry.

This exhibition is co-organized by the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, and the Calder Foundation, New York.  This exhibition is made possible in part through the generosity of The Contemporary and Modern Art Council of the Norton Museum of Art.

Alexander Calder was born July 22, 1898, in Lawnton, Pennsylvania, into a family of artists. In 1919, he received an engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken. Calder attended the Art Students League, New York, from 1923 to 1926 and made his first wire sculpture in 1925; the following year he began developing his famous Cirque Calder. In 1930 he began to experiment with abstract sculpture and in 1931 introduced moving parts into his work. These moving sculptures were called “mobiles”; his stationary constructions were to be named “stabiles.” Whether constructing his mobiles, stabiles, the famed Cirque Calder or his jewelry, Calder was consistent with his unique artistic style, incorporating both formality and functionality. Calder died November 11, 1976, in New York.