Alexander Calder at Azabudai Hills Gallery_2024_2 — Installation view of *Calder: Un effet du japonais*, Azabudai Hills Gallery, 2024, Photo: Tadayuki Minamoto © 2024 Calder Foundation New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Museum Exhibitions

Calder: Un effet du japonais

May 30 – Sep 6, 2024
Azabudai Hills Gallery
Tokyo

Marking Alexander Calder's first solo exhibition in Tokyo in nearly 35 years, Azabudai Hills Gallery is pleased to present Calder: Un effet du japonais, on view from Thursday, May 30, 2024 to Friday, September 6, 2024.

Calder: Un effet du japonais will explore the enduring resonance of the American modernist’s art with Japanese traditions and aesthetics. Curated by Alexander S. C. Rower, President of the Calder Foundation, New York, and organized in collaboration with Pace Gallery, the exhibition will comprise approximately 100 works from the collection of the Calder Foundation that span the 1930s to the 1970s, ranging from the artist’s signature mobiles, stabiles, and standing mobiles to his oil paintings and works on paper.

Alexander Calder, Un effet du japonais, 1941, Sheet metal, rod, wire, and paint, 80" × 80" × 48", Photo courtesy of Calder Foundation, New York / Art Resource, New York © 2024 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York — Alexander Calder, *Un effet du japonais*, 1941, Sheet metal, wire, rod, and paint, 203.2 × 203.2 x 121.9 cm, Photo courtesy of Calder Foundation, New York / Art Resource, New York © 2024 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

While Calder never traveled to Japan himself, he was embraced by many of the country’s artists and poets during his lifetime. Today, more than two dozen of his works can be found in 18 museums across Japan. In the spirit of Calder’s collaborations with the greatest architects of his time, New York-based Stephanie Goto—longtime Calder Foundation collaborator—has created a bespoke exhibition design rooted in the geometry of a 3:4:5 triangle that features elegant and modern references to Japanese architecture and materials.

Calder: Un effet du japonais is organized as part of a new curatorial partnership between Azabudai Hills Gallery and Pace Gallery, which will open a permanent space in September 2024 in Tokyo’s Azabudai Hills. Pace has worked closely with the Calder Estate since 1984 and has presented numerous exhibitions of Calder’s work at its galleries around the world—including Hong Kong and Seoul. Pace Publishing will release a new catalogue in English and Japanese to accompany the upcoming show in Tokyo.