BROOCH 1936

This is Alexander Calder’s Brooch, made from wire, its date is unknown. Calder made these wearable sculptures, and the bending and twisting of the material is so alive. He’s feeling his way through the metal, deciding where it wants to go, not forcing it. The surface is all materiality, the twist of the wire where one petal joins the next, the delicate, elongated teardrop forms of each petal. It’s handmade, and you can see how it was made, like a drawing in metal. Calder doesn’t hide the process, he celebrates it, each twist of the wire a kind of painterly mark. See how the petals flare out from the center, each with its own subtle bend? There is something reminiscent of the abstract expressionist painter, Lee Krasner, in the way the metal is worked. Both Krasner and Calder take the everyday and make it something extraordinary. It’s all about the making. Ultimately art is a conversation, and everyone is invited to join in.