Seattle Art Museum continues Alexander Calder exhibition series

The Seattle Art Museum presents installation artist Tara Donovan (b. 1969) as part of its Calder at SAM initiative, which celebrates the life, legacy, and work of iconic American artist Alexander Calder (1898–1976). Monochrome: Calder and Tara Donovan explores a connection between the two artists that goes beyond a simple color choice. For Calder and Donovan, the monochrome is a lens through which to examine materials, movement, and visual perception.

Curated by Tara Donovan and Catharina Manchanda, SAM’s Jon and Mary Shirley Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, the exhibition will run from May 13, 2026, through January 17, 2027.  

“This is the second exhibition where we invite a leading contemporary artist to illuminate a key aspect of Calder’s artistic practice after Thaddeus Mosley last year,” Catharina Manchanda, exhibition curator, said. “Donovan is looking at Calder’s work through the lens of monochrome color and material, an artistic choice that delineates the overall form from its surroundings. I am especially excited for visitors to experience the subtle changes of form and volume in each artist’s work as they navigate the gallery.”

Donovan’s works in the exhibition come from five separate series, which showcase her elevation of mass-produced industrial materials to create mesmerizing installations reminiscent of biological structures and geological formations. Working with a single material or object at a time, Donovan compares her approach to a monochromatic practice animated by light.

Through her use of translucent, refractive, and reflective materials that possess the qualities to be activated, Donovan prompts the question of whether a material can transcend its origin, its intended purpose, and its function. In Transplanted, thick layers of tar paper form a floor installation evoking a geological formation. Works such as Apertures feature subtle illumination, operating at the outer margins of perception. The largest work in the exhibition comprises clusters of Mylar, recalling a supersized molecular structure.

“My primary, though not sole, focus on the color black references Calder’s use of black in many of his works as a neutralizing force that flattens sculptural shapes,” Donovan explains. “While color in my own work stays limited, as determined by the chosen object, there is a spectrum of effects that occur from the use of both silver and black materials and the given lighting conditions. By limiting the palette to monochrome, the physical identity of the material becomes the primary event for the viewer.”

As dual touchpoints for the exhibition, Donovan selected two of Calder’s matte black works: the cascading hanging mobile Jacaranda (1949), on loan from The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and the bold stabile Mountains (1:5 intermediate maquette, 1976), from SAM’s permanent collection.

When asked about the role of color in his work, Calder replied, “Well, it’s really secondary. I want things to be differentiated. Black and white are first—then red is next—and then I get sort of vague.”

Both works also draw attention to constantly changing outlines and forms.

“The mobile has actual movement in itself, while the stabile is back at the old painting idea of implied movement,” Calder noted. “You have to walk around a stabile or through it—a mobile dances in front of you.”

Monochrome is the latest incarnation of Calder at SAM, a multiyear initiative which features exhibitions, programs, and artistic and institutional collaborations that deepen engagement with Alexander Calder’s work while celebrating the life, legacy, and iconic work of the artist. Previous iterations include Following Space: Thaddeus Mosley & Alexander Calder and the inaugural Calder: In Motion, The Shirley Family Collection. 

ABOUT TARA DONOVAN  

Tara Donovan (b.1969, Flushing, New York) is a sculptor and installation artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She received her BFA from the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design, Washington D.C. in 1991, and her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1999. 

While she is primarily known for her large-scale sculptures and site-responsive installations, she also creates drawings and prints, such as her broken glass prints in Monochrome: Calder and Tara Donovan.

Donovan has received many accolades for her work including the prestigious MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Award (2008) and the first annual Calder Prize (2005). She has been represented by Pace Gallery for over two decades.

ABOUT ALEXANDER CALDER  

Alexander Calder (b. 1898, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania–d. 1976, New York, New York) used his innovative genius to profoundly change the course of modern art. Born in a family of celebrated, classically trained artists, he began in the 1920s by developing new methods of sculpting in wire, essentially “drawing” three-dimensional figures in space. He is renowned for the invention of the mobile, whose suspended, abstract elements move and balance in changing harmony. Coined by Marcel Duchamp in 1931, the word mobile refers to both “motion” and “motive” in French. Many of the earliest mobiles moved by motors, although these mechanics were virtually abandoned as Calder developed mobiles that responded to air currents, light, humidity, and human interaction. He also created stationary abstract works that Jean Arp dubbed stabiles.  

From the 1950s onward, Calder turned his attention to international commissions and increasingly devoted himself to making outdoor sculpture on a grand scale from bolted steel plate. Some of these major commissions include: .125, for the New York Port Authority in John F. Kennedy Airport (1957); Spirale, for UNESCO in Paris (1958); Teodelapio, for the city of Spoleto, Italy (1962); Trois disques, for the Expo in Montreal (1967); El Sol Rojo, for the Olympic Games in Mexico City (1968); La Grande vitesse, which was the first public art work to be funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), for the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan (1969); and Flamingo, for the General Services Administration in Chicago (1973).  

THE CALDER AT SAM INITIATIVE  

Calder at SAM is a multiyear initiative that celebrates the life, legacy, and work of iconic American artist Alexander Calder (1898–1976). It was made possible by a transformative promised gift to SAM by longtime supporters Jon and Kim Shirley of over 45 works by Calder, as well as lithographs and rare ephemera, representing every decade of the artist’s career. The gift also includes a $10M endowment and $1M in additional funds for special programming and ticket and transportation subsidies to ensure under-resourced or previously excluded communities.

With annual exhibitions, programs, and artistic and institutional collaborations centered on the artist, it expands knowledge and access to these critical works and establishes SAM as a national destination for Calder appreciation and scholarship. The initiative’s inaugural exhibition, Calder: In Motion, The Shirley Family Collection (November 8, 2023–October 20, 2024), debuted to the public the entire collection for the first time, allowing visitors to experience seminal works from every decade of the artist’s career.