Art committee brings Calder's 'Tripes' to campus

The 12-foot metal sculpture is on display for the next two years on Brown's Front Green

by Mary Jo Curtis

American artist Alexander Calder had a sense of humor - a trait he clearly demonstrated when he gave his 1974 sculpture a title denoting bovine intestines.

That same imposing 12-foot metal sculpture, "Tripes," will be on public display for the next two years on Brown's Front Green, courtesy of a loan from the Calder Foundation of New York and the effort of the University's Public Art Committee. The piece, composed of black sheet metal and installed earlier this month, is the sixth work of art brought to Brown since 2002 as part of the group's Art on Campus program.

Committee member Jo-Ann Conklin said the panel selected "Tripes" (at left) from the pieces offered by the Calder Foundation because members felt it was the most typical of the artist's work.

"Calder's humor and irreverence are reflected in the French title he gave this work," said Conklin, the director of the David Winton Bell Gallery. "Apparently the intertwining biomorphic shapes at one point reminded him of stomach guts."

The artist's grandson, Calder Foundation Director Alexander Rowe, elaborated.

"Unlike some artists who imbue their art with insightful titles, he wasn't concerned with explanations," Rowe said. "He viewed titles as a necessary means of identification only, using what came to mind after the fact."

In the past two years, the Public Art Committee has shared a series of significant art works with the Brown and Providence communities. The most recent - Paola Pivi's immensely popular 33-foot mural of a donkey riding in a small boat - was installed on the facade of Brown's Sciences Library, delighting Thayer Street pedestrians for the four months it was on display. The committee also arranged for the exhibition of Roy Lichtenstein's 30-foot-high sculpture "Brushstrokes," located next to MacMillan Hall, and Isamu Noguchi's "To Tallness," which can be seen on The College Green, as well as two smaller pieces that are no longer on exhibit.

Calder's 12-foot sculpture, installed near Carrie Tower, is constructed of sheet metal that was cut into biomorphic shapes, painted black, and bolted rather than welded together. Calder was among the first American artists to explore the artistic potential of industrial materials and methods; his use of shipbuildersÕ bolting and joining techniques reinforces the structural appearance of his work.

Calder (1898Ð1976) was the son of two artists, a sculptor and a painter, who encouraged his creativity at an early age. Although he displayed artistic talent, he earned a degree in engineering; after a series of jobs, however, he moved to New York, enrolled in art school and became an illustrator for the National Police Gazette. When the latter involved an assignment sketching scenes of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, he found inspiration for much of his work. During the 1930s, he became known for his fanciful wire sculptures of circus animals and performers and for moving constructions that were dubbed "mobiles."

Calder continued working into the 1970s. Many of the monumental pieces he created in the 1960s and 1970s - some measuring up to 60 feet tall - were commissioned as public work. Known for being both bold and playful, they were well received by the general public and the art community. "Tripes" was completed in 1974, just two years before the artist's death.

The Public Art Committee is chaired by Chancellor emeritus Artemis Joukowsky. Members include Robert Emlen, University curator and senior lecturer in American civilization; Richard Fishman, professor of visual art and director of the Creative Arts Council; Dietrich Neumann, professor of history of art and architecture; and Conklin.