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Calder in his Roxbury studio with the mobile commission for the Hotel Avila Ballroom in Caracas, Venezuela, 1941. Photo by Herbert Matter, ©2013 Calder Foundation, New York.
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Calder by Matter, published by Cahiers d’Art
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Calder in his storefront studio, New York, 1936. Photo by Herbert Matter, ©2013 Calder Foundation, New York.
Calder by Matter
Art matters.
Book collectors and connoisseurs know the name, but soon enough, everybody with a penchant for art books will once again: Cahiers d’Art. That name has referred to, at various times, a publishing house, a gallery, and also a revue, founded in 1926 by Christian Zervos at 14 rue du Dragon in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris. In 2011, Swedish collector Staffan Ahrenberg acquired the company, refreshed and revived it, and re-launched the printed art revue last year.
In those footsteps, Calder by Matter follows—a large-scale, visual-heavy book about American sculptor Alexander Calder. The tome brims with over 300 images taken by designer-photographer great Herbert Matter—who was also Calder’s close friend—and includes original essays by art critic Jed Perl, Calder’s grandson Alexander S. C. Rower, and Matter student and colleague John T. Hill. The photographs, many of which are previously unpublished, provide an insider’s glimpse into the artist’s life, detailing his artworks at different stages of their realization, both in-studio and at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. Without a doubt, this Cahiers d’Art book is a work of art about a work of art.
