Musée de Grenoble : Monsieur Loyal by JLBG
This 8 meters high stabile was created in 1967 for the Olympic games by Calder and was installed in a college, Lycée Argouges where it was soon coveed with graffitis and forgotten among weeds. It was later transferred to the esplanade of the museum. Monsieur Loyal is a main figure in a circus, acting as a clown and this stabile reminds the famous Calder circus that he presented in the world for 40 years.Alexander Calder (Pennsylvania, 1898-New-York, 1976), whose illustrious career spanned much of the 20th century, is the most acclaimed and influential sculptor of our time. Born in a family of celebrated, though more classically trained artists, Calder utilized his innovative genius to profoundly change the course of modern art. He began by developing a new method of sculpting: by bending and twisting wire, he essentially "drew" three-dimensional figures in space. He is renowned for the invention of the mobile, whose suspended, abstract elements move and balance in changing harmony. Calder also devoted himself to making outdoor sculpture on a grand scale from bolted sheet steel, called stabiles. Today, these stately titans grace public plazas in cities throughout the world.
More on Calder on the website dedicated to his achievments from which I borrowed some of the informations presented here.
