Spotlight on Sculpture: Alexander Calder

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Experiment Station

Installation view of Made in the USA. Photo courtesy The Phillips Collection

With the heat and patriotic spirit of early July upon us, now is a great time to check out Made in the USA before it comes down on August 31. As a new intern, I’ve enjoyed spending some time with this exhibition; especially a few works by some of my favorite artists, among them Alexander Calder, whose works Hollow Egg, Red Polygons, and Untitled are currently on view. The first time I wandered the galleries I was immediately drawn to the three sculptures for their distinct presence amidst the two-dimensional works that make up most of the show. In fact, the way Calder’s work is displayed makes it visible from three of the galleries; a curatorial decision I can’t help but think of as a strategy to emphasize the universal relationships these sculptures have with painting, and image-making in general. Next to Stuart Davis’s Egg Beater No. 4, it’s easy to recognize the parallels between Calder’s use of wire and strokes on a canvas.

Another hallmark of Calder’s work (seen in two of the three pieces on display) is his exploration of movement. The suspended metal shapes act like sails that catch the quiet breezes created by the motion of viewers in the gallery space, allowing the mobiles to rotate with currents of air. This delicate movement is to me what makes viewing the works a powerful experience; they depend on their audience in order to become mobile at all.

Elaine Budzinski, Marketing Intern

Summer: Giverny

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Experiment Station

Theodore Robinson, Giverny, ca. 1889, Oil on canvas 16 x 22 in.; 40.64 x 55.88 cm.. Acquired 1920.

Painted during his third summer in the village, Giverny (ca. 1889) is a prototypical example of the technique that earned Theodore Robinson his reputation in America. Using a vantage from a hillside overlooking the Seine valley, he adjusted his easel to paint several views of the rural landscape. The strong composition and strict delineation of architectural elements in Giverny hark back to Robinson’s academic training, while the bright violet-and-green palette and deft, summary treatment of the light-dappled foliage betray his exposure to impressionism. In Giverny, Robinson emphasized parallel diagonal lines that radiate to the left of the picture plane and terminate at the horizon line near the top of the canvas. Robinson executed this painting en plein-air—out of doors—capturing the immediate brilliance of the sunlight and warm colors of the country, a technique he no doubt learned from Monet.

Summer: Farm at Bear Mountain

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Experiment Station

David Burkiuk, Farm at Bear Mountain, 1925, Oil on burlap canvas 18 1/8 x 12 7/8 in.; 46.0375 x 32.7025 cm.. Acquired 1929.

David Burliuk’s Farm at Bear Mountain (1925) is vigorously expressionistic, using color to convey Burliuk’s intense personal feelings about the landscape. Painted with rhythmic strokes, wiry lines, and strong colors, it is an ode to nature in late summer. Its predominantly saturated verdant palette is evocative of a lush summer with plenty of sun and rain. While warm highlights on the foliage and rooftops of farm buildings capture the effects of the sun, deeper greens and blues, found in the denser areas of trees, suggest the fresh, cool air of the shade. Burliuk further increases the dynamism of the painting by using a vertical format, thus denying the viewer a panoramic vista, creating a tension with the inherit nature of landscape painting.