Fish, 1942, Alexander Calder, 1898-1976, rod, wire, glass, mirror, porcelain, pottery, string, and paint, 15 x 36 1/2 in., Promised gift of Jon and Mary Shirley, © 2023 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, photo: Nicholas Shirley, Brightwood Photos
AUDIO GUIDE TRANSCRIPT
NARRATOR:
Calder made a dozen hanging fish over the 1940s and 50s. This example, dating from 1942, seems to be the first of the group. Alexander S.C. Rower.
ALEXANDER S.C. ROWER:
One of the unusual things about this one compared to all the others is that there is a lot of bits of mirror; and we know about a mirror that was a bistro mirror that Calder had that got broken in a fire and he repurposed pieces of that. And you see them here: you see the kind of scraped away silvering on the glass in some of the pieces. So, this one really reflects a lot of light: doesn't just transmute the light like a stained-glass window, like many of the fish, but actually transmutes and reflects at the same time.
NARRATOR:
Exhibition curator José Diaz.
JOSÉ CARLOS DIAZ:
The lighting creates a shadow, actually a colorful shadow that's also unexpected within the space, and this is something that gives you a new take on Calder, or even an extension of the sculpture itself, as sculpture as shadow.
NARRATOR:
The use of broken mirror may say something about the time this mobile was made. During the Second World War, Calder felt that sheet metal should be reserved for the war effort; instead, he turned to discarded materials. One useful source was a dump near his studio in Connecticut.
ALEXANDER S.C. ROWER:
He dug out this mound and found many bits of colored glass and assortments of bits of metal and pieces that he started to incorporate as kind of enticing objects in sculpture. Clearly this Fish has some of those and other things. You can see that there's a piece of Chinese porcelain and some other bits of pottery from sources unknown.