Calder's Circus

Voices in Contemporary Art Journal (VOCA) article here
Whitney Museum website here
Video here

Calder’s Circus (1926-31) was created to be performed by the artist and only by the artist himself. Made primarily in Paris, when the young Alexander Calder lived there and during his frequent travels back to New York, Calder performed the Circus for colleagues, friends, artists, critics, collectors, and luminaries from the worlds of theater, art, and literature. He last performed his Circus from start to finish for the filming of Carlos Vilardebó’s Le Cirque de Calder (1961),1 though selected acts appear in Hans Richter’s film Alexander Calder: From the Circus to the Moon (1963).