Drawings and sketches are what many artists use as the starting point of their artistic endeavors. These rough drafts turn into exquisite works of art after months of hard work, however for the late American artist, Alexander Calder, sketches were the art. With precision and determination, he transformed wires and twisted these into differing shapes and characters, giving his sketches a 3D wired life.

Now, 32 years after his death, his artwork has flourished back to life at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Upon stepping into the Alexander Calder: The Paris Years 1926 -1933 exhibition, you are greeted by numerous vivid faces suspended from the ceiling by single pieces of wire. Expressive faces with ludicrous grins and frowns, expressing agony and irony, encircle the intimate space and create dancing sketch shadows on the wall behind the display. The faces themselves are made solely out of industrial steel wire, illustrating how the wonders of simplicity in art may be intertwined with complex structures.

Although the material used for the wire portrait faces may be plain and unsophisticated, their design speaks for itself. Whilst gazing at these faces, it is almost as if you are looking at expressions of real people; as if the wire portraits were themselves alive, gliding through the corridors of the exhibition.

As much as the wire portraits play an immense introductory role to the exhibition, there are several other of Calder’s artworks that tell the story of his artistic days in Paris. Various paintings, such as the Circus Scene, with its dancing elephants and references to the Ringling Brother’s circus, as well as his wire figurines and his personal sketchbooks, are just some of the items on display. They capture Calder’s soul and his extraordinary gift for creating something innovative and beautiful out of very few resources. However, none is as enthralling as his infamous circus piece.

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