Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
đȘ Through his playfully posed âAcrobatsâ, Alexander Calder turns wire into a theatrical act of imagination.
In 1925, shortly before his departure for Paris, the young Calder secured a two-week pass to observe the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Captivated by the choreography of its performers, he began crafting wire sculptures of knife throwers, animal tamers, and trapeze artists â figures he would later animate in live performances of his celebrated 'Cirque Calder'.
In this quintessential example from the series, one acrobat delicately balances atop another, her leg extended in graceful tension. Calder performs a feat of his own, capturing motion and poise through the simplest of materials: a few deftly twisted strands of steel wire.
'Acrobats' encapsulates Calderâs enduring fascination with the space between drawing, sculpture and performance â an early glimpse of the kinetic poetry that would define his later mobiles.
Rarely seen at auction and among the most sought-after of Calderâs early works, 'Acrobats' comes to Christieâs from the Max N. Berry Collection, coinciding with the Whitney Museum of American Artâs major exhibition devoted to Calderâs circus (on view in New York through 9 March 2026). Nearly a 100 years on, Calder's 'Circus' works continue to astonish and enchant collectors and museum audiences alike.
đ 20th Century Evening Sale | New York | 17 November
Explore the work: christies.com/en/lot/lot-6559899?cid=EM_SM_O_YT_Inc_CON____________
đȘ Through his playfully posed âAcrobatsâ, Alexander Calder turns wire into a theatrical act of imagination.
In 1925, shortly before his departure for Paris, the young Calder secured a two-week pass to observe the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Captivated by the choreography of its performers, he began crafting wire sculptures of knife throwers, animal tamers, and trapeze artists â figures he would later animate in live performances of his celebrated 'Cirque Calder'.
In this quintessential example from the series, one acrobat delicately balances atop another, her leg extended in graceful tension. Calder performs a feat of his own, capturing motion and poise through the simplest of materials: a few deftly twisted strands of steel wire.
'Acrobats' encapsulates Calderâs enduring fascination with the space between drawing, sculpture and performance â an early glimpse of the kinetic poetry that would define his later mobiles.
Rarely seen at auction and among the most sought-after of Calderâs early works, 'Acrobats' comes to Christieâs from the Max N. Berry Collection, coinciding with the Whitney Museum of American Artâs major exhibition devoted to Calderâs circus (on view in New York through 9 March 2026). Nearly a 100 years on, Calder's 'Circus' works continue to astonish and enchant collectors and museum audiences alike.
đ 20th Century Evening Sale | New York | 17 November
Explore the work: christies.com/en/lot/lot-6559899?cid=EM_SM_O_YT_Inc_CON____________
