Calder Foundation

Circus Scene

Date 1926
Media
Oil on canvas-board
Dimensions
69 3⁄4" × 83 1⁄2"
Collection
University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; Gift of Richard B. Bailey & Nanette C. Sexton in memory of Margaret Calder Hayes, 1991
Related exhibitions  1
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1998)

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Alexander Calder: 1898–1976. 29 March–12 July 1998.

Solo Exhibition
Works / Oil Painting 82
Related Timeline
1926–1930 Wire Sculpture and the Circus

Soon after moving to Paris in 1926, Calder created his Cirque Calder. Made of wire and a spectrum of found materials, the Cirque was a work of performance art that gained Calder an introduction to the Parisian avant-garde. He continued to explore his invention of wire sculpture, whereby he “drew” with wire in three dimensions the portraits of friends, animals, circus themes, and personalities of the day.