“Why must art be static?... You look at an abstraction, sculptured or painted, an entirely exciting arrangement of planes, spheres, nuclei, intensely without meaning. It would be perfect, but it is always still. The next step in sculpture is motion”
The present work is part of Alexander Calder’s series of wall sculptures known as Escutcheon, which he repeatedly returned to between the 1950s and 1970s. In its abstract integrity, it embodies the dynamism and spontaneity which the American artist aspired to. He reduced the sculpture to simple lines and asymmetrical forms, rendered predominantly in primary colours, red, black, white, juxtaposed to a bright yellow form emerging from the centre. In this way, a unique harmony is established between the colours, shapes and motion.
"Excluding every anecdotal element, Calder reduces the object to a few simple lines carving out elementary colors. This object, employing only the properties of movement—not represented movement but real movement - is miraculously brought to life in the most concrete shapes and restores to us the evolution of the celestial bodies, the rustling of foliage, the memory of caresses”
PHOTO © ALAMY STOCK PHOTOS / DACS
ARTWORK © 2022 CALDER FOUNDATION, NEW YORK / DACS, LONDON
The choice of title, referencing a coat of arms, is not meant to be read literally, AS the artist often titled his works after the fact of creation based on a vague description of forms. As the sculpture is meant to hang from the wall, the viewer can contemplate it from different angles. The overall structure consists of two parallel elliptical structures, respectively red and black, at the centre of which hangs a small signature Calder mobile. These crescents and discs bring to mind universal allusions; the vibrant red of the elliptical form closest to the viewer bounces back around the shapes of blacks and whites, creating a fascinating performance. The grit of the industrial materials chosen, in this case metal and rod, disappears under the soft shapes and colours of the work, evocative of nature and its dynamics, which indeed persisted as a central theme in Calder's oeuvre. His studio in Roxbury, Connecticut, was purposely curated with an oasis of flora and fauna for inspiration, as he allowed his mobiles to pivot, moved by the breeze. As recurrent in the artist’s practice, the interaction between artwork, space and observer is inherent to the work. Each of the Escutcheon’s elements is highly sensitive to the movements happening in its immediate surroundings.
"In the event that the work did not attempt to transform the whole of its ambient space into a theatrical or dramatic context, it would often internalize a sense of theatricality - by projecting, as its raison d'etre, a sense of itself as an actor, as an agent of movement. In this sense, the entire range of Kinetic sculpture can be seen as tied to the concept of theatricality.”
Artwork: © DIGITAL IMAGE, THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK/SCALA, FLORENCE
Escutcheon hence stands a visual testament to Calder’s exceptional attention to form, colour and movement. Although the artist avoided any direct representation of nature, the work vividly embodies a sense of natural dynamism. He re-envisaged the very notion of sculpture, as an object free of any movement. The very essence of Calder’s inimitable style shines through the present work, as the spectator’s gaze is immediately captured by the intrinsic fragility of the piece and the dancing spectacle that unfurls.