Alexander Calder’s colourful vibrant work has been on display in several cities over the summer.  In London and New York, the Gargosian Gallery had a show of Calder’s gouache paintings, which provided a contrast to the kinetic and mobile sculptures for which he is best known and which are currently on display in a major exhibition in the grounds of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

The paintings echo Calder’s three dimensional works, while providing a medium that enabled him to be more vibrant, colourful and free-flowing.

At the Rijksmuseum, guest curator Alfred Pacquement, former director of Musée National d’Art Moderne Centre Pompidou in Paris, has selected an exhibition of Calder’s mobiles and sculptural works from museums and private collections. This is the second annual sculpture exhibition since the re-opening of the Rijksmuseum, and hopefully will now become a regular event in the Amsterdam arts scene, albeit funding is currently available for a limited number of years from  BankGiro Loterij and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

“Calder at the Rijksmuseum” features works from a wide range of public and private collections including the Calder Foundation, New York, Pierre Gianadda, Martigny, Musée National d’Art Moderne Centre Pompidou, Paris, Middelheim Museum, Antwerp and the UNESCO Works of Art Collection.

Hopefully this, and this year’s exhibition at Chatsworth by Michael Craig Martin, will encourage others to reinforce the growing number of such sculptural exhibitions.