Les Années Folles

I had the opportunity to visit the Whitney recently to see the outstanding Alexander Calder exhibition, "The Paris Years: 1926-1933." This is one of the most breathtaking and inspiring exhibits of the Whitney containing all the exciting and transporting qualities of a good, worthwhile show.

The artist, an American expatriate, joined the Parisian art scene of Montemarte in the twenties, and allowed the city to inspire his art to its full potential. His personal style, one of childlike and whimsical playfulness puts life in sculpture, with wire formations of cartoonish portraits of his friends and acquaintances in Paris. In the perfectly arranged exhibit, his sculptures hang from a thin thread, side by side, casting shadows on the blank walls around them, their togetherness complimenting and creating an almost dreamlike effect.

His toy creations are equally impressive, with elaborate detail, they give a sense of treasured fragility, making it wondrous any child was ever actually able to play with them.

Letters in his childlike scrawl are displayed, mostly to his mother back in the states, but to other business and art acquaintances as well. Written in a formless cursive similar to one who just learned to write, his sentences and writing style are also basic and elementary, modest and innocent, intriguing for his age and experience.

The Miniature Circus was probably the most surreal and exciting component of the exhibit. Calder himself put on performances of a small-scale circus, feeding life into his small sculptural characters, transporting his modern audience to Les Années Folles, an exciting cultural movement that was happening in Paris during that decade. Videos of the actual performance art are projected onto screens, while an actual set-up of a circus is sprawled out on the floor. I found myself completely in awe watching the little pieces move around the floor, fascinated by the life and joviality of the era.



I left the exhibit feeling like a child, amused by simple joys of life, and inspired to create. Anyone want to put on a puppet show?