Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder, a late 1930s silver ring.
Size 17.5/55. Total height 2.7 cm. Diameter of the spiral 3.3 x 2.5 cm.
Wear and tear due to age and use.
Provenance
A gift from Alexander Calder to Aino and Alvar Aalto during their visit to New York in 1939.
More information
Factory owner and benefactor Hjalmar Karlström from Turku married Rosa Marsio in 1906.
Rosa's sister, Aino Marsio, married architect Alvar Aalto in 1925. Aino and Alvar Aalto planned the Finnish pavilion for the 1939 World's Fair in New York. The couple wanted to travel there to see how their plans were realised, but the travel costs were too high. Aino Aalto's brother-in-law, Hjalmar Karlström, offered to finance the trip.
In New York, Alvar and Aino Aalto met the artist Alexander Calder, who gave them the silver ring with spiral. After returning to Finland, Alvar and Aino gave the ring to Hjalmar Karlström to thank him for his financial support.
The ring was later passed on to Rosa and Hjalmar Karlström's youngest child, Ulla Karlström, who married the artist Tapio Tapiovaara in 1943. The silver ring was then inherited by their daughter, who is its current owner.
Designer
Alexander Calder was an American Sculptor and artist born in Philadelphia. He initially studied mechanical engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, but later changed to study at the Art Students League in New York and at Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. When Calder visited Piet Mondrian’s studio in Paris, the artist felt immense inspiration, facilitating the creation of his abstract art and his joining of the group "Abstraction-Création". He is well known for his Chinese sculptures, and artworks Marcel Duchamp dubbed as “mobiles”. As well as sculptures, Calder also illustratedbooks and magazines at the same time as he also made jewellery. Calder explored the dynamics of movement in his art, diverging from the traditional notion of artworks as static objects.
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