The Acrobats

1929

Alexander Calder

Associated Names
Alexander Calder

Artist, American, 1898 - 1976

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Acquired 1929 from the artist through (Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf) by Dr. Hans Cürlis [1889-1982], Berlin, to 1967.[1] (Galerie Michael Hertz, Bremen, in 1967); sold 22 December 1967 to (Perls Galleries, New York); purchased February 1968 by Taft B. and Rita Bloch Schreiber, Beverly Hills;[2] by inheritance to Lenore S. and Bernard A. Greenberg; gift 2025 to NGA.
[1] A filmmaker and art historian, Cürlis filmed Calder as he created The Acrobats in 1929 in conjunction with an exhibition of the artist's wire sculpture at the Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf in Berlin (Schaffende Hände: Drahtplastiken, 1929). The work remained with Cürlis along with a wire portrait of him also made by Calder. See entry by Cürlis in 1920-1970: Fünfzig Jahre Galerie Nierendorf. Rückblick, Dokumentation, Jubiläumsausstellung. Berlin, 1970: 31. Cürlis lent both works to a Calder retrospective at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, in 1967.
[2] See invoices and correspondence about Perls's acquisition of the sculpture from Hertz and subsequent sale to Taft Schreiber in the Perls Galleries Records, 1937-1995, Archives of American Art, boxes 19 and 36, copies of relevant documents in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1929

  • Ausstellung Alexander Calder Skulpturen aus Holz und aus Draht, Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf, Berlin, 1929, possibly no. 7, 13, or 23.

1967

  • Alexander Calder, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, 1967, no. 98, as Two Acrobats, repro.

  • Skulpturalen Inventionen vom Jahrhundertbeginn bis Heute, Galerie MIchael Hertz, Bremen, 1967, no. 15, as Two Acrobats, repro.

1968

  • 24 Major Acquisitions, Perls Galleries, New York, 1968, no. 5, repro.

Bibliography

1970

  • Galerie Nierendorf. _ 1920 -1970; fünfzig Jahre Galerie Nierendorf. Rückblick, Dokumentation, Jubiläumsausstellung._ Berlin, 1970: 31.

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