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Alexander Calder

Tumblers with Spectators, 1931-1932

Description

Maker

  • Alexander Calder, 1898-1976, American

Title

Tumblers with Spectators

Year

1931-1932

Medium

Ink and crayon on paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • colored ink,
  • crayon

Supports

  • paper

Dimensions

48.6 x 63.3 cm (19 1/8 x 24 15/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed in LR corner:Calder

Type

  • Works on Paper,
  • Drawings and Watercolors

Credit

The Albert Pilavin Memorial Collection of 20th Century American Art: gift of Mr. and Mrs. Irving J. Fain

Object Number

69.205

Projects & Publications

Publications

Manual / Issue 3

Circus
Read Online

The Albert Pilavin Collection

Twentieth-Century American Art, II

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Circus

August 1, 2014 - February 22, 2015

American artist Alexander Calder lived in Paris between 1926 and 1933, a transformative time during which he created Calder’s Circus, a two-hour long, multi-act performance featuring mechanized sculptures on a miniaturized scale, and made wire sculptures of acrobats and other circus performers. Calder’s drawings between 1931 and 1932 display a line quality similar to that of his wire sculptures; each figure in Tumblers with Spectators appears to be composed of a single line, as though fashioned out of wire, endowing the acrobats with infinite flexibility. This drawing also mimics the transparency of the sculptures, making visible the line between the floor and the wall through the performers’ bodies.

Figurative Tradition in Sculpture

June 23 - September 3, 1983

Albert Pilavin Collection

October 23 - November 25, 1973

Selection 1

December 30, 1971 - January 23, 1972

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Tumblers with Spectators with the accession number of 69.205. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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