Brooch for Dorothy Canning Miller

Alexander Calder

ca. 1950 · Brass · Modern and Contemporary Art

Calder created more than eighteen hundred pieces of jewelry during his career, many made specifically for friends and family members. This piece offers an insight not only into the fine metalwork of his mobiles and wire sculptures, but also his professional and personal networks within the cultural world. The brooch was made as a gift for Dorothy Canning Miller, the Museum of Modern Art's first curator, and someone who was central to New York's contemporary art scene, advising collectors and artists, acting as a champion for radical new work and also a collaborator and friend to Calder for many years. As a personal token, the brooch exemplifies a warm, affectionate and mutually respectful friendship, with Calder's delicately rendered initials of Miller's name, "DM" creating a playful homage to his friend and advocate.

Artist

Alexander Calder

Date

ca. 1950

Medium

Brass

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Gift of Jacqueline Loewe Fowler, 2020