The Fawn 1944

Alexander Calder made this sculpture, The Fawn, from plaster over metal. The finish is rough and textured, like tree bark, which sets it apart from Calder’s better-known mobiles and wire sculptures. It’s a kind of hybrid, this fawn. Its body is solid, almost heavy, with a flattened, teardrop shape. The surface looks built up, maybe applied in layers, which makes me think of process, of Calder building this thing bit by bit. Then the legs, like spindly branches, are so delicate. And that head, or tail, reaching up with its open curves, is so playful, so airy. Calder almost draws in space with this sculpture, giving us solid volume and open line in the same breath. I guess you could say that Picasso’s wire sculptures do something similar, but with a totally different sensibility. Whereas Picasso is angular and cerebral, Calder is all about gesture, movement, and humor. He invites us to see the world with a sense of lightness and joy.