Alexander Calder, Necklaces, silver, 1950 and 1940
“Simplicity of equipment and an adventurous spirit in attacking the unfamiliar or unknown are apt to result in a primitive and rigorous art. Somehow the primitive is usually much stronger than art in which technique and flourish abound.” Calder, 1943).
It is beautiful to note how Calder finishes the clasp of his Necklace to form the beginnings of a curled but yet to be realized spiral and the opposing ends of the bracelet curled more tightly like the full stop of a completed sentence. The brooch itself is an outright homage to the spiral, a form inextricably linked to Calder’s day to day visual lexicon.
Design is fine. History is mine. 