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photography courtesy of the calder foundation, new york / art resource Poetry in Flight The Peabody essex MUseUM showcases The aerial MasTerPieces of scUlPTor AlexAnder CAlder in an exclUsive easT coasT exhibiT. by jared bowen There was always an extraordinary balance to Alexander Calder's career. His sculptures are a blend of visual simplicity and mechanical complexity. His mobiles are both a whirl of color and a spectacle of shadow. He created engaging miniature tabletop works and wondrous massive public installa- tions. A new exhibition, organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of A r t a nd ma k ing it s only East Coast appea ra nce at t he Peabody Essex Museum, looks at the sculptor's monumental contribution to modern art. "Calder and Abstraction: From Avant-Garde to Iconic," on view through January 4, 2015, features more than 40 mobiles and stabiles (the term for his stationary sculptures) made between the 1930s and the late 1960s and exam- ines how Calder changed the sculpture movement (pun intended). "There's a confidence that comes out of [his] work that many people find appealing, reassuring, and a little bit mysterious," says Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, PEM's chief curator. They wonder, "How exactly are these things made?" Born into a family of accomplished sculptors in Pennsylvania, Calder broke from their more traditional ways and embarked on a lifelong pursuit of the art of the new. In the 1920s and '30s, he made countless trips to Paris, immersing himself in an avant-garde milieu populated by Marcel Duchamp, Joan Miró, and Jean Arp. "It was such a fertile environment of change and opportunity," says Hartigan, "that it opened him up to making art that did not have to emulate the tradition that was passed down through his family." In Paris he found a home with his wife, Louisa, who was from a prominent and artistically minded Boston family (the novelist Henry James was her great-uncle). From there, Calder launched a career that would turn him into one of the 20th century's most enduring artists. At his studio in Roxbury, Connecticut, Calder devised a sculptural vocabu- lary all his own. Drawing on his fascination with antique astronomical devices and his engineering prowess, he created sculptures that performed abstract ballets, each a mélange of color dancing in midair and an orbit of shadows cast on the wall. Says Hartigan, "He wanted to activate the relationship between time and space." Not to mention spark an enduring conversation in modern art. Through January 4, 2015. 161 Essex St., Salem, 978-745-9500; pem.org BC Southern Cross (maquette), Alexander Calder, 1963. 60 bostoncommon-magazine.com culture Art Full