These earrings were a gift from Alexander Calder to Eva Wolff. Eva was married to George Wolff, the chief correspondent at the United Nations for Agence France-Presse. The pair divorced in the early 1950s but later remarried after a 10-year separation. During this time, Eva became close with Jean Davidson. Davidson, the son of sculptor Jo Davidson, worked for years at Agence France-Press as a correspondent in Washington. It is likely through the French news agency that Eva and Jean met, and Jean’s connections to the art world would lead them to Alexander Calder. In fact, Jean and Calder met at an exhibition in 1950 and quickly became friends.
Raised in France, Jean had purchased an old mill on the Indre River near the village of Saché and invited the Calders to visit in 1954. So taken with the area, Calder decided to settle, first occupying a house called François I and later constructing a large studio compound overlooking the Indre Valley. Ultimately, Jean would marry Calder’s eldest daughter, Sandra, and the two would raise their family near the artist in the French village. However, at some point before the union of Jean and his daughter, Calder met Eva and gifted her with the present lot: a delicate pair of brass wire earrings.
The basis of everything for me is the universe.
Alexander Calder 1898–1976
Born in 1898 to Nanette Lederer Calder and Alexander Stirling Calder, a painter and a sculptor respectively, Alexander Calder was encouraged to be creative and make things by hand. As a child he made gifts for his family and jewelry for his sister’s dolls. In 1915, Calder attended Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey graduating in 1919 with a degree in mechanical engineering because his parents didn’t want him to struggle as an artist. After completing school, Calder work a myriad of jobs including draftsman for Edison Company, a staff member at Lumber magazine, coloring maps for a hydraulics engineer and timekeeper for a logging camp.
In the spring of 1922 Calder attended night classes in drawing and the following year he decides to pursue a career as a painter. By 1925 Calder had his first art exhibition and in 1926 he made his first sculptures out of wood and wire. Calder relocated to Paris, socializing with the Parisian avant-garde, and started making mechanical toys and abstract sculptures. His kinetic works, a departure from traditional sculpture, became known as ‘mobiles’, a term coined by Marcel Duchamp.
Calder’s artistic endeavors ranged from mobiles to stabiles (static sculptures) both small and large, to jewelry and paintings. Today his works can be found in numerous museum collections around the world including The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid.
Auction Results Alexander Calder
