Calder Jewelry

ROWER, Alexander S.C. [288] pp. 2007 Calder Foundation 12 1/8" x 9 7/8" Calder Jewelry features more than 450 bracelets, brooches, necklaces, and rings, photographed in still life by Maria Robledo. Also included are Calder's inventory drawings, boxes he made to transport and store the jewelry, historic photographs of his exhibitions and of jewelry worn by notable collectors and artists, and an extensive chronology. Essays discuss the relationship of these objects to the artist's other endeavors and in relation to the history of adornment. Edited by Alexander S.C. Rower & Holton Rower. Contributions from Mark Rosenthal & Jane Adlin. Photographs by Maria Robledo. New York & New Haven and London. Calder Foundation & Yale University Press. 2007. First edition. Black cloth-bound hardback, with jewellery design blind stamped on front board, dust jacket. 288 pages. Profusely illustrated with over 200 full-page colour plates. (11¾ x 9¾"). English. Near fine; the slightest surface wear to jacket; an excellent clean copy. The scarce hardback catalogue for a touring exhibition of Calder's Jewelry. The photographs of the jewelry pieces are of the highest-quality and generously scaled. Each detail is clearly seen, making this an excellent resource for designers and students. The many illustrations are accompanied by essays, an illustrated chronology and a detailed catalogue of the pieces in the exhibition. Calder's jewelry has the same linear yet three-dimensional quality as his famous wire sculptures and mobiles, and the parts that comprise each piece are hammered, shaped, and composed in a fashion that echoes the artist's creation of his sculpture. Calder produced more than 1,800 pieces of jewelry, beginning in 1906 when he found some copper wire discarded in the street and adorned his sister's dolls. This use of non-precious materials and found objects guided his intuitive jewelry technique, from his bohemian years of the 1920s and 1930s to the war years. His jewelry was coveted by the Surrealist coterie, and today is still highly sought after by collectors and museums.…