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Introduction by Fernand Léger, 1931

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Introduction

Fernand Léger

Galerie Percier, Paris. Alexandre Calder: Volumes–Vecteurs–Densités / Dessins–Portraits. Exhibition catalogue. 1931. Translation courtesy Calder Foundation, New York.

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Eric Satie illustré par

Calder

Pourquoi pas ?

“C’est sérieux sans en avoir l’air.”

Néoplasticien à l’origine il a cru à l’absolu des deux rectangles colorés….

Son besoin de fantaisie a rompu le lien ; il s’est mis à “jouer” avec les matières : bois, plâtre, fil de fer, surtout fil de fer…. période pittoresque et spirituelle….

….Réaction, le fil se tend, devient rigide, géométrique—plastique pure—c’est l’époque actuelle—volonté anti-Romantique dominée par le souci de l’équilibre.

Devant ces nouvelles œuvres transparentes, objectives, exactes, je pense à Satie, Mondrian, Marcel Duchamp, Brancusi, Arp, ces maîtres incontestés du beau inexpressif et silencieux. Calder est de cette ligne-là.

C’est un Américain 100/100.

Satie et Duchamp sont 100/100 Français.

Comme on se rencontre ?

 

Croisière, 1931
Photograph by Marc Vaux
Croisière, 1931Photograph by Marc Vaux © Bibliothèque Kandinsky, Centre Georges Pompidou, Marc Vaux Collection
Féminité, c. 1930
Photograph by Marc Vaux
Féminité, c. 1930Photograph by Marc Vaux © Bibliothèque Kandinsky, Centre Georges Pompidou, Marc Vaux Collection
Horse Trainer with Hoop, 1931

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Horse Trainer with Hoop, 1931

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Eric Satie illustrated by

Calder

Why not?

“It’s serious without seeming to be.”

Neoplastician from the start, he believed in the absolute of two colored rectangles….

His need for fantasy broke the connection; he started to “play” with his materials: wood, plaster, iron wire, especially iron wire…. a time both picturesque and spirited….

….A reaction; the wire stretches, becomes rigid, geometrical—pure plastic—it is the present era—an anti-Romantic impulse dominated by the problem of equilibrium.

Looking at these new works—transparent, objective, exact—I think of Satie, Mondrian, Marcel Duchamp, Brancusi, Arp—those unchallenged masters of unexpressed and silent beauty. Calder is of the same line.

He is 100% American.

Satie and Duchamp are 100% French.

And yet, we meet?

Exhibitions  1
Galerie Percier, Paris (1931)

Galerie Percier, Paris. Alexandre Calder: Volumes–Vecteurs–Densités / Dessins–Portraits. 27 April–9 May 1931.

Solo Exhibition
Archive
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