Necklace

Alexander Calder

ca. 1940 · Silver · Modern and Contemporary Art

Known primarily for his sculptures, Calder first began to produce jewelry in 1929 while in Berlin. Hammering wires and small pieces of metal into flattened shapes, he created necklaces, earrings, bracelets, brooches, cufflinks, and belt-buckles, among other items. Calder drew inspiration for many of his jewelry pieces from African designs, Nootka and Navajo ornaments, Amazonian feathered adornments, Brazilian luck charms, and Inca quipus, or knotted threads. While the specific referent for this necklace is unknown, its forms resemble bones or feathers and recall non-Western prototypes.

Artist

Alexander Calder

Date

ca. 1940

Medium

Silver

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman, 2008