Cahiers d'Art: Calder in France: 39th Year (Revue)

“Calder reached his artistic maturity in 1920s Paris at a time when the city was very much the center of burgeoning avant-garde experimentation. His early years in Paris marked the beginning of a lasting love for France, where he met many of his lifelong artist friends,” explains Alexander S. C. Rower, grandson of the artist and president of the Calder Foundation. “Calder’s time in France, and his continued legacy there, constitutes a natural and rich subject for study.”

The revue undertakes an in-depth exploration of the significant years Calder spent in France, beginning with his crucial years in Paris from 1926 to 1933, during which time the artist firmly established his imprint on the avant-garde scene. After the war, Calder spent significant periods of time in Paris in 1946, in Aix-en-Provence in 1953, and finally in Saché in the Loire Valley, where he would design his final monumental studio in 1963. The revue unveils the studios where Calder lived and worked through archival documentation, offering deeper insight into his work in each of these enigmatic places.

Calder in France also celebrates the legacy of Calder’s Saché studio over the past 25 years as a residency program for contemporary artists. Over the past quarter century, fifty artists have worked in Calder’s studio, including Martin Puryear, Tara Donovan, Ernesto Neto and Sarah Sze. The revue contains interviews with Tadashi Kawamata, Abraham Cruzvillegas and Rachel Harrison, a selection of images of past residents’ work, and a special portfolio of models for new sculptures by 2014 resident Monika Sosnowska. The revue also highlights Calder’s relationship with former Cahiers d'Art publisher Christian Zervos through the reproduction of several pivotal essays on Calder published during the artist’s lifetime.

Images of the artist’s work are published alongside seminal texts by Alexander S. C. Rower, and Susan Braeuer Dam, Director of Research and Publications at the Calder Foundation. The revue is also enriched with contributions by Alfred Pacquement, former Director of the Musée National d’Art moderne, Centre Pompidou and President of the Board of the Atelier Calder; Raphaël Bouvier, Curator at the Fondation Beyeler; Robert Rubin, architectural historian; and Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director of the Serpentine Gallery in London. Accompanying the texts are defining photographs of Calder and his work by Ugo Mulas and also Agnès Varda, with an interview by curator and art historian Joan Simon.