At the entrance of Azabudai Hills Gallery, visitors are currently greeted by a giant black-and-white photo of the sculptor Alexander Calder in his New York studio, next to two of his most famous artworks: ¡°White Panel¡± and ¡°Devil Fish,¡± which was at the time under construction.
Calder stares directly at the lens, his gaze almost burrowing into the viewer from beyond. A Francophile American, he was born in 1898 to artist parents ¡ª his father a sculptor and his mother a portrait painter ¡ª and passed away in 1976 at the age of 78. Posthumous exhibits are, in a sense, always problematic since the chief celebrant is absent throughout the entire planning process.
But upon entering the 700-square-meter display area of the exhibition ¡°Calder: Un effet du japonais¡± ¡ª where one is faced with Calder¡¯s abstract dragon-like standing mobile ¡°Fafnir¡± (1968) ¡ª it indeed seems as though the late, and inarguably most famous, sculptor of kinetic art has had some say in how this salute to himself has been shaped.
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