Bronzes
In 1944, following his first major retrospective at the
Museum of Modern Art in New York, Calder decided to experiment with more
traditional materials than those he was currently using. He made several
works in plaster, which were then cast in bronze. A few of these
incorporate movable parts (for example, Double Helix). As in the sheet metal
sculpture and drawings shown elsewhere in the room,
the curves and arabesques suggest animal and plant forms.
Calder, however, was frustrated with the casting process, which involved
several intermediaries between inception and the finished object. Moreover,
as he wrote in his 1966 autobiography: "This was rather an expensive
venture and did not sell very well, so I abandoned it for my previous
technique."