Necklace
Known primarily for his sculptures, Calder first began to produce jewelry in 1929 while in Berlin. Hammering wires and small pieces of metal into flattened shapes, he created necklaces, earrings, bracelets, brooches, cufflinks, and belt-buckles, among other items. Calder drew inspiration for many of his jewelry pieces from African designs, Nootka and Navajo ornaments, Amazonian feathered adornments, Brazilian luck charms, and Inca quipus, or knotted threads. While the specific referent for this necklace is unknown, its forms resemble bones or feathers and recall non-Western prototypes.
Artwork Details
- Title: Necklace
- Designer: Alexander Calder (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1898–1976 New York)
- Date: ca. 1940
- Medium: Silver
- Dimensions: 1/2 in. × 21 in. (1.3 × 53.3 cm)
- Classification: Jewelry
- Credit Line: Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman, 2008
- Object Number: 2008.550
- Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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