Back to the Wall

Some visitors to Manhattan's slick Museum of Modern Art have been amused, annoyed or otherwise aroused by some contraptions made of tin, wire, roots, glass, cardboard and broken oddments, teetering, swaying, jiggling and bobbing in the breeze. These "mobiles," along with "stabiles" which don't jiggle, have been Alexander ("Sandy") Calder's principal claim to artistic fame.

Some like them but don't think they're art; others concede they might be art but don't want any. A few have paid from $50 to $1,200 to take one home.

Not seen so often are Calder's paintings --once his chief interest. Last week in Manhattan 20 new paintings by Calder went on display.

They were big, ebullient abstractions done in black & white and bright poster colors. Far less baffling than Calder's mobiles, they included hodgepodge silhouEttes of shapes, plus moons and melted creatures reminiscent of Joan Miro, and echoes of Picasso's onetime interest in primitive Negro sculpture. However derivative, they had a kind of damn-it-all gaiety all their own.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.