Known the world over for his creation of the mobile, Calder (1898-1976) was the son and grandson of sculptors - Alexander Stirling Calder and Alexander Milne Calder; his mother, Nanette, was a portrait painter. Living in the avant-garde atmosphere of Paris in the mid-1920s helped transform Calder's early genius in making objects from bent wire into a lifelong interest in sculpture that moved. From his famous Circus of 1926-30, to his mobiles and stabiles, to colorful gouaches, textiles, toys, forks and spoons, and even a fleet of airplanes, everything Calder created was imbued with fun and intelligence. An album of a joyous, creative household, Calder at Home shows how Calder extended his unbounded creativity and enthusiasm to every corner of his existence, from living room hearth to dining table, from kitchen to bathroom, from studio ceiling to studio floor. And things that would not fit indoors tumbled outside to enliven nature with his lasting vision. Guerrero's photographs capture the Calders' exotic surroundings - created with the same imagination and playfulness of the sculptor's work - while the entertaining story of his close relationship with Calder adds new dimensions to this internationally renowned artist.
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Amazon.com Review
What a thrill this book should be for those who have yet to fall in love with sculptor Alexander Calder, who died in 1976. And it will deepen the affection the rest of us already hold for him and his fabulous creations. The author, photographer Pedro Guerrero, first took his camera to Calder's Connecticut studio in 1963, on a routine assignment with an editor from House and Garden magazine. As soon as they arrived at Calder's shambly, magical, jam-packed home, Guerrero could sense that the editor was less than enthralled. "If I had known you were going to photograph that room," she later sniffed, "I would have straightened the slipcovers."
"What a thing to notice!" writes Guerrero, who was, as he put it, "plotting my next move." Over the next 13 years, he photographed Calder, often with his beautiful wife, Louisa, in different houses and studios, all of them mesmerizingly overflowing with wire sculptures, homemade toys for their grandchildren, stabiles, mobiles, piles of mail, chairlike contraptions, and sculptural kitchen paraphernalia. "Be careful where you step," Calder warned Guerrero in the studio, "everything here is important."
Calder at Home is as playful and entertaining as the artist's famous Circus acrobats and animals installed (alas, behind glass) in the lobby of the Whitney Museum of American Art. From the foreword by Calder's grandson to Guerrero's final, pensive photograph of the master alchemist, this is a book to dream on. --Peggy Moorman
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A CALDER LOVER'S JOY!,
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This review is from: Calder at Home: The Joyous Environment of Alexander Calder (Hardcover)
In combination, the photography and text tell an intimate story about Calder, his wife, their life together and what mattered most to them, which you readers find anywhere else. One comes away with the sense that both of them would have enjoyed and appreciated this book as much as I do. I think this is one of the best "art books" published in years.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very good introduction to Calder's art,
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This review is from: Calder at Home: The Joyous Environment of Alexander Calder (Hardcover)
I bought this book after my visit to the Calder exhibition in the National Gallery of Art in Washington in May '98. It is really a very nice book. You will discover in the book that some of the masterpieces (Spring or Romulus and Remus) seen in the exhibition were found left in Calder's studio and rearranged by the artist. You will love and enjoy this book !
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating glimpse,
By BeachReader (Delaware) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Calder at Home: The Joyous Environment of Alexander Calder (Hardcover)
What an interesting book with its intimate look into the life and lifestyle of Alexander Calder. The book has 13 years of photos of Calder's "joyous environment", taken as Guerrero repeatedly visited the places where the sculptor lived and created. To someone who loves order the way I do, this was a rare glimpse into a world of total disorder and creativity, where every item in his crowded studios and homes had some significance. It was just fascinating. I have been a fan of Calder's for 30 years and this book just added to my appreciation.
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