Contact: Mike Horyczun
Director of Public Relations
(203) 413-6735
For Immediate Release
October 8, 2009
New Exhibition!
Alexander Calder: Printmaker
October 31, 2009 – January 31, 2010
Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich, CT 06830
Alexander Calder (1898-1976)
Abe Ribicoff, 1974
Lithograph
Bruce Museum Collection, Gift of
Barbaralee Diamonstein and Carl Spielvogel, 96.04
© 2009 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
The Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut, presents the new exhibition Alexander Calder:
Printmaker from October 31, 2009, through January 31, 2010. The show, which features works from the
Bruce Museum collection and loans from other institutions, galleries and individuals, is supported by a
Committee of Honor led by Honorary Co-chairs Dave and Reba Williams, Co-chairs Drs. Henry and
Michele Gasiorowski, Oldham Resources, and the Charles M. and Deborah G. Royce Exhibition Fund.
The exhibition is organized by the Robin Garr, the Bruce Museum’s Director of Education, and guest
curator Jodi Roberts, Ph.D. Candidate, New York University Institute of Fine Arts.
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Alexander Calder’s many sculptural inventions—including his famed Cirque Calder, his imposing
stabiles and, most importantly, his graceful mobiles—have secured his place among America’s most
celebrated artists. Yet critical and public praise of Calder’s sculpture has drawn attention away from his
career-long devotion to other media. In an effort to uncover one of the artist’s lesser-known artistic
practices, the Bruce Museum’s exhibition Alexander Calder: Printmaker brings together 28 prints made
throughout Calder’s career, affirming his continual interest in printmaking processes and proficiency in
numerous printing techniques. A degree of stylistic and iconographic continuity exists among Calder’s
prints, but they served diverse purposes. Comprised of literary illustrations, poster designs, studies
related to sculptures and paintings, and ostensibly independent compositions, the artist’s prints intersect
with his more famous works while also providing insight into his working process and extra-artistic
concerns.
Born in a suburb of Philadelphia to a family of artists, Calder spent the majority of his childhood in
Pasadena, California. He received a degree in mechanical engineering from New Jersey’s Stevens
Institute of Technology in 1919, but by 1922 he had abandoned this early career path. Calder opted
instead to enter the Art Students League of New York in 1923, where he took classes on etching and
lithography. In order to support himself while living in New York City, Calder took a job as an illustrator for
the National Police Gazette and produced lively sketches of local entertainments for the magazine. The
sparse lines and sense of spontaneity that characterize his commercial illustrations find echoes in
Calder’s earliest prints, several of which are included in the exhibition.
Calder picked up his study of printmaking after moving to Paris in 1926. There, he met nowfamous members of the early 20th-century avant-garde, including Joan Miró, Fernand Léger, Piet
Mondrian and Marcel Duchamp. He also befriended Stanley William Hayter, widely considered to be one
of the most influential printmakers of the 20th century. The Bruce Museum’s show highlights the mutual
exchange and lasting friendship enjoyed by both artists through its inclusion of three Calder prints that
issued from an edition created at Hayter’s.
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Calder returned to the United States in 1933 and established a home base in Roxbury,
Connecticut, although he retained strong connections to the Parisian art world. A mid-career
retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in 1943 cemented his status as an artist of international
stature. In 1952, he represented the United States at the Venice Biennale and was awarded the grand
prize for sculpture. Soon thereafter, he acquired a home in Sache, France and began to spend major
portions of the year working abroad. As Calder’s professional reputation erupted in the late 1940s and
1950s, so did his production of prints. Masses of lithographs based on his gouache paintings hit the
market, and deluxe editions of plays, poems, and short stories illustrated with fine art prints by Calder
became available for sale. Visitors will find ample examples of Calder’s late print work in this exhibition.
The role of printmaking in an artist’s career is often complicated as it raises questions of an
image’s function, intended audience, and authenticity. Alexander Calder: Printmaker offers the
opportunity for both an in-depth exploration of his particular body of works and an analysis of larger
issues surrounding the production, use, and distribution of fine art prints.
The Bruce Museum is located at 1 Museum Drive in Greenwich, Connecticut, near Interstate-95,
Exit 3, and a short walk from the Greenwich, CT train station. Museum hours are: Tuesday through
Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and closed Mondays and major holidays.
Admission: $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and students, and free for children under five and members. Free
admission to all on Tuesdays. Groups of eight or more require advance reservations. Museum exhibition
tours are held Fridays at 12:30 p.m. Free, on-site parking is available. The Bruce Museum is accessible to
individuals with disabilities. For information, call the Bruce Museum at (203) 869-0376, or visit the Bruce
Museum website at www.brucemuseum.org.
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