Special Screening
Calder, Sculpteur de l’air

Thursday, February 26, 2009 at 7pm

Co-presented by FIAF with the Whitney Museum

François Lévy-Kuentz, 2009. Color. 52 minutes.
Narrated by Mathieu Amalric

An extraordinary figure in modern art, Alexander Calder (1898–1976), revolutionized the development of sculpture through his modernity. He released his medium from its traditional base, while developing movement into the composition. This documentary by François Lévy-Kuentz tells the adventure of this American artist’s unique quest and transformation from the fringes of modern art to international star.

Gaining fame through his successful miniature circus in the 1930s, Calder was above all the liberator of drawings from paper through his series of wire sculptures. A contemporary and friend of Marcel Duchamp, Joan Miró, and Piet Mondrian, all of whom influenced his evolution, this revolutionary—too often reduced to a creator of mobiles—consistently renewed his art through the most surprising forms.

Join FIAF and the Whitney Museum and visit Calder’s life and work through this rich and abounding fresco. Joan Simon, curator of Alexander Calder: The Paris Years, 1926-1933 at the Whitney Museum will introduce this special documentary.

A reception hosted by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy will follow the screening.

In English

Tinker Auditorium
55 East 59th Street

Ticket Price
Free and open to the public

FIAF and Whitney Museum Members may reserve their tickets in advance.

General audience tickets will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis on evening of screening.

Ticket Reservations

FIAF Members fiaf.rsvp@gmail.com

Whitney Museum Members memberinfo@whitney.org

The screening of Calder, Sculpteur de l’air is made possible through the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.

Cinéma at FIAF is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State agency.

The FIAF Winter 2009 Season is made possible by support from American Airlines, the official airline of FIAF, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, Florence Gould Foundation, and the Herbert J. Seligmann Charitable Trust.

Photograph: Little Clown, the Trumpeteer, and Bearded Lady from Calder’s Circus, 1926-31.
Wire, cloth, paint, yarn, thread, rhinestone buttons, electrical tape, rubber tubing, and metal horn, 12 x 3 1/2 x 3 in. (30.5 x 8.9 x 7.6 cm); wire, cork, leather, paint, cardboard, and cloth, 11 1/8 x 6 1/2 x 3 1/4 in. (28.3 x 16.5 x 8.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 83.36.8a-c and 83.36.2
Photo © Whitney Museum of American Art.
Alexander Calder © 2008 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Photograph by Sheldan C. Collins