Buckle

1939–1945

The war years: “constellations” instead of aluminium

During the Second World War Calder tries to join the Marines as a camoufleur but is rejected. Adapting to a scarcity of aluminium, he returns to carved wood in a new open form of sculpture called “constellations”.

1943

The retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art

In 1943 the Museum of Modern Art hosts a Calder retrospective curated by James Johnson Sweeney and Marcel Duchamp; the show has to be extended because of the number of visitors. It is sometimes called the artist’s first retrospective.

1946

The Louis Carré show and Sartre’s essay

In 1946 a Calder show organised by Duchamp, made up mainly of hanging and standing mobiles, opens at Galerie Louis Carré in Paris; because of the postal service’s strict size limits he takes some works apart and sends them by mail. The show makes a huge impact, as does the catalogue essay by Jean-Paul Sartre.