Calder’s artistic explorations of the circus began in 1925 while taking classes at the Art Students League and working as a newspaper illustrator in New York, where he covered the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Upon moving to Paris in 1926, Calder began to work primarily in sculpture, devising mechanical and wire objects. In his 1929 “Statement on Wire Sculpture,” Calder outlines the connections between the Circus, his commercial stint in toy manufacturing, and his artistic turn toward abstract wire sculpture.
