This record also refers to the Calder BMW Art Car (Artist’s Proof, 1975 / 2021)
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Calder’s Universe. 14 October 1976–6 February 1977.
Solo Exhibition
Centro Botín, Santander, Spain. Calder Stories. 29 June–3 November 2019.
Solo Exhibition
Neue Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany. Alexander Calder: Minimal / Maximal. 22 August 2021–13 February 2022
Solo ExhibitionArchival video showing the origins of the Calder BMW Art Car with commentary from Hervé Poulain, the French auctioneer and racecar driver who commissioned the artist to embark on this project
Prompted by Calder’s project with Braniff International Airways to paint a DC-8 jet, French auctioneer and racecar driver Hervé Poulain commissions Calder to design the first-ever BMW Art Car.
Calder attends the Le Mans 24-Hour race, where his BMW Art Car is driven by Poulain, Jean Guichet, and Sam Posey. Due to a mechanical failure relating to the driveshaft, the car does not complete the race.
In 1963, Calder completed construction of a large studio overlooking the Indre Valley. With the assistance of a full-scale, industrial ironworks, he began to fabricate his monumental works in France and devoted much of his later working years to public commissions. Calder died in New York in 1976 at the age of seventy-eight.
