#airmail

Calder Vs Duchamp !

During the mid-1940s, Calder produced a series of small-scale works, many from scraps trimmed during the making of other objects. When Duchamp saw them in Calder’s studio in 1945, he audaciously proposed, “Let’s mail these little objects to Louis Carré, in Paris, and have a show.”

By taking advantage of the newly available international airmail system, Duchamp’s action predated “mail art” by nearly two decades.

Calder packed thirty-seven miniature objects into six cartons and mailed them to Paris; intrigued by the limitations on parcel size, he also began creating larger collapsible works that could be reassembled upon arrival.

Alexander Calder: Mobiles, Stabiles, Constellations opened at Galerie Louis Carré in 1946 and is remembered today as one of the most important shows of the artist's career.

Images:

Red T with Black Flags (1946), sheet metal, wire, and paint, Measuring approximately 24 ¾" x 16 ¼" x 14" (62.8 x 38.7 x 35.5 cm),

Crayfish (1946), sheet metal and paint, This piece measures a mere 3 ½ inches high (approx. 8.6 cm),

Grand Piano, Red (1946), sheet metal, wire, and paint, 9 ⅝" x 10" x 3" (24.4 x 25.4 x 7.6 cm)

'Overseas parcels - it's quicker by AIR'

Airmail, Newfoundland, Canada, 1933