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Calder on Paper: 1939 -1959, 1960 - 1976

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Wednesday, 27 September 2017 to Thursday, 7 December 2017

I think I ama realist, because I makewhat I see. Its only theproblemofseeingit. If youcanimagine a thing, then you can make it and ‘tout de suite’ you’re a realist (…). The universe is real, but you can’t see it. You have to imagine it. Once you imagine it, you can be realistic about producing it.’’

- Alexander Calder (1898–1976) ‘Artists voice, 1962’

SALON, in collaboration with Omer Tiroche Gallery, is pleased to announce its third exhibition, Calder on Paper: 1960 – 1976, a presentation of gouaches on paper by the American artist Alexander Calder, opening 27 September 2017.

Despite being most widely celebrated for his mobiles (also known as ‘drawings in space’), Calder (1898 – 1976) began his artistic career as a painter, developing his gouache technique in the 1930s while living in Paris. He preferred working with gouache over oil paint and watercolour because it dries more quickly, and for the medium’s opacity of colour. The works exhibited at SALON were made between 1960 and 1976.

Alongside this presentation, Omer Tiroche Gallery, Mayfair, London, will show a collection of earlier works on paper by the artist dating from 1939 to 1959 (2 October until 8 December 2017). Exhibiting work from two separate periods of Calder’s career serves to create a comprehensive retrospective of his gouaches. It also ensures that a greater number of works will be on display across the two spaces – both familiar and unfamiliar to the viewer – which in turn greater elucidates Calder’s contribution to the development of modern art.

Calder’s gouaches were first exhibited at Kootz Gallery in New York in 1945, and were well received by critics, who called him ‘a possible rival to the likes of Klee and Miro.’ Calder maintained a sense of playfulness and humour throughout his career, often creating new forms and works by rearranging his extant visual vocabulary. Highly regarded for their immediacy and purity of colour, line and form, the gouaches are an integral component of Calder’s oeuvre, reflecting and inspiring the sculptural practice for which he is renowned.

Taking certain aspects from his mobiles, such as ideas of kinetics and angularity, the works displayed at both galleries illuminate Calder’s celebration of nature. In particular, the exhibition of later works at SALON gives a glimpse of Calder’s personal observations and impressions of the solar system, the animal world, primitive civilisations and basic geometric figures such as spirals, circles and triangles.

Says Senior Director, Saatchi Gallery, Philippa Adams: ‘We are delighted to be working with Omer Tiroche Gallery for SALON’s third presentation. Many know Alexander Calder is, of course, best known for his sculptural works, and it is fascinating to witness how these two elements of his practice fed off one another.’

SALON 004 Philip Pearlstein: Studio, presented by Betty Cuningham Gallery, NY     13 December 2017 — 27 February 2018

For more information, please contact Albany Arts Communications:

India  Irving, india@albanycommunications.com

t: + 44 (0) 20 73 88 09 97; m: + 44 (0) 79 04 98 7247

 

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Alexander Calder (b.1898, Philadelphia, United States, d.1976)

American artist Alexander Calder, known as ‘’Sandy’’ to his wide circle of friends, was born in Philadelphia in 1898. He was born into a family of artists – his father and grandfather were famous sculptors and his mother was a painter. Art was part of Calder’s everyday life and he had his own studio/workshop from a young age. Calder studied mechanical engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, and then at the Arts Students League in New York. His studies in engineering and physics and passion for kinetics and astronomy shaped

his artistic career, which was in constant evolution with a complex weave of subjects and styles. Like the artists Joan Miro and Piet Mondrian from whom he took inspiration, Calder confronted conventional art styles to free painting and sculpture from their traditional constraints.

About Omer Tiroche Gallery

Omer Tiroche Gallery is located in Mayfair, London, and works with internationally established artists: Calder, Haring, Basquiat, Picasso, Warhol and more. Since opening its permanent exhibition space in February 2015, Omer Tiroche Gallery has held historical solo exhibitions and shows with living artists. In addition to its London space, Omer Tiroche Gallery also run a non-profit gallery in Jaffa, Israel, to provide an exhibition platform for emerging artists, both Israeli and international.

Calder on Paper: 1939-1959 will be  on  view from  2  October until 8  December,  2017. 21 Conduit Street, London, W1S  2XP

Information:  info@tiroche.com, www.omertiroche.com

About SALON at Saatchi Gallery

SALON, Saatchi Gallery’s new project space has been created to present the work of leading international artists who have had limited exposure in the UK. Located in its own self-contained space at the Saatchi Gallery, this new venture will collaborate with galleries and artists’ estates in selling exhibitions, and is directed by Philippa Adams, Senior Director, Saatchi Gallery.

Calder on Paper: 1960-1976 will be on view from 27 September until 7 December, 2017. Information: Salon@saatchigallery.com

About Saatchi Gallery

Saatchi Gallery was founded in 1985 by Charles Saatchi with the aim of bringing contemporary art to as wide an audience as possible and make it accessible by providing an innovative platform for emerging artists to show their work. Over the last five years, the Saatchi Gallery has hosted 10 out of the top 15 most visited exhibitions in London, according to The Art Newspaper’s survey of international museum attendance, and also has more followers on social media than any other museum in the world. Entry to all the Saatchi Gallery’s exhibitions is free.

It was the first UK museum to introduce the public to exhibitions of Cy Twombly, Brice Marden, Robert Ryman, Sol LeWitt, Anselm Kiefer, Richard Serra, Jeff Koons, Philip Guston, Sigmar Polke, Bruce Nauman, Cindy Sherman, Damien Hirst, Jenny Saville, Sarah Lucas, Glenn Brown, Andreas Gursky, John Currin, Ron Mueck, Grayson Perry, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Cecily Brown, Martin Kippenberger, Peter Doig, Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Richard Prince, Charles Ray, Duane Hanson, and Alex Katz, among others.

In recent years, it has presented surveys of emerging artists from China, India, the Middle East, Korea, Russia, South America, Africa, Germany, United States, and Britain, many of whom have achieved international success.

The Saatchi Gallery education programme attracts over 2,000 schools each year, organising student visits from primary school level upwards. The website displays over one thousand works that have been exhibited in the last three decades as a study resource, and also gives full details about the art to be seen in forthcoming exhibitions.

Venue ( Address ): 

Duke of York HQ
King's Road
London
SW3 4RY

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