Closet Canuck: Alexander Calder: Radical Inventor | Canadian restrospective of the artist opens in Montreal

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) presents the first Canadian retrospective of Alexander Calder (1898 - 1976), showcasing the full scope of the American artist who set art in motion. The exhibition sheds new light on Calder's works, as seen through the perspective of innovation. It runs September 21, 2018 to February 24, 2019.

Alexander Calder: Radical Inventor includes more than 150 works by the artist. Calder's multidisciplinary practice is shown through his wire portraits, paintings, graphics, sculpture, jewelry, and his invention of the mobile. The artist worked in a variety of fields including drawing, sculpture, painting, design and performance; his half-century career took his creations to five continents.

Alexander Calder (1898-1976), Red Gongs, 1950, aluminum, brass, steel rod, wire and paint. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Fletcher Fund, 1955. © 2018 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SOCAN, Montreal. Photo courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Art Resource, New York

Among the 150 objects are numerous works and documents rarely or never before on public display -- they have been specifically restored for the exhibition:

The Brass Family (1929), sculptures on loan from the Whitney Museum of Art
Kiki de Montparnasse (II) (1930), on loan from the Centre Pompidou, Paris
White Panel (1936), on loan from the Calder Foundation;
Red Gongs (1950), a mobile on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (pictured above)

Also in the exhibition are little-known sculptures made by Calder in his childhood.