Art Eyewitness: October 2025

Friday, October 24, 2025

Art Eyewitness Review: To the Holy Sepulcher: Treasures of the Terra Sancta Museum at the Frick Collection

To the Holy Sepulcher:

Treasures of the Terra Sancta Museum

The Frick Collection, New York City

October 2, 2025 - January 5, 2026

Reviewed by Ed Voves

After a five year, $220 million revitalization project, the Frick Collection has reopened its doors. Upon entering this fabled "museum mile" institution in New York City for the first time since 2019, my initial reaction was one of relief.

"This is the 'old' Frick, only better."

My snap judgement was certainly correct, but "only better" proved to be an understatement.

I've been going to the Frick Collection since the early 1980's and part its charm has always been its "oasis" of civilization ambiance.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

Gallery view of the Frick Collection, New York, showing

Andrea del Verrochio's Bust of a Woman, ca. 1460-1470

The sensational array of the Old Master paintings and classic sculptures of its permanent collection and the splendid setting of the Garden Court and the awesome West Gallery, to list but a few Frick highlights ... would this idyllic realm be preserved? Or would the addition of a spectacular lecture hall, new exhibition galleries, up-scale book/gift shop and much more at the "new" Frick overwhelm the atmosphere of beauty and civility of the "old" Frick.

Well, these questions were answered with a resounding affirmation of careful planning and judicious balance, incorporating new technology and 21st century amenities with the Frick's "gilded-age" heritage. During my first "look-see" back in the spring when the Frick reopened to public inspection, I was mightily impressed.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

A view of the entrance to the Frick Collection, New York City

When I returned on September 30 for the press preview of the first major exhibition to be mounted in the "new" Frick, I was prepared to be pleased. But the curators of the exhibit, To the Holy Sepulcher: Treasures of the Terra Sancta Museum, had taken a page from Serge Diaghilev's playbook.

"Astonish me," Diaghilev would say to the set and costume designers of the Ballet Russes. And that is just what the curators of the Frick Collection did:

Astonish me.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

Throne of Eucharistic Exposition, 1665. Created by Pietro Juvarra

and sons, as a gift from King Philip IV of Spain and Sicily

Entering the new exhibition gallery, named in honor of Ronald Lauder, was akin to peering into the just-opened tomb of Tutankamum back in 1925.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

Red Pontifical Vestments of King Louis XIII of France, 1619. Created by Alexandre Paynet for the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem

Gleaming works of art in precious metals, set with jewels. Sumptuous garments. "Beautiful Things" which elicited many an "Oh, my God" and gasps of wonder from members of the press - people not easily wowed.

However, for all of the golden aura of the treasures on display in the Lauder Gallery, their value can only - truly - be computed in terms of religious ideals, of devotion to God.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

The Resurrection, silver bas-relief, created in Naples, 1736

This is the real theme of To the Holy Sepulcher: Treasures of the Terra Sancta Museum. Reflect for several minutes in front of the monumental silver relief depiction of Christ's Resurrection, created in Naples in 1736, and you will, I believe, adjust your focus from the things of this world to those of the next.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

Gallery view of the To the Holy Sepulcher: Treasures of the

Terra Sancta Museum, showing Crucifix from Naples, 1756, and Throne of Eucharistic Exposition, 1754, also from Naples.

This depiction of the risen Christ, cast and chased in silver, was intended to focus the minds of Christian faithful on the dramatic moment of mankind's liberation from sin. But most of the other works of art on view in the Frick exhibition - all from the collection of the Terra Sancta Museum in Jerusalem - had a utilitarian rather than contemplative function.

During the 1500's-1700's, rulers in Roman Catholic nations in Europe - France, Spain, Portugal, the Republic of Venice and others - commissioned ecclesiastical vessels and vestments for use in religious services in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. This holy shrine was built on the reputed site where the body of Jesus was buried after his crucifixion and where his resurrection from the dead occurred. Only the most valuable materials could be used and the finest craftsmen be employed for such a sacred purpose.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

Crucifix, created in Naples, 1756. Crafted in gold and lapis lazuli, with garnets, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, quartzes, and glass.

An example of the concept that "only the best, is good enough" for the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the crucifix (above), created in Naples and delivered to Jerusalem in June 1737. Its blue color comes from the rare mineral pigment from Afghanistan, lapis lazuli, and it was embellished with almandine garnets, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, quartzes and decorative glass.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

Crozier donated by King Louis XIV of France to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, 1654-55. Created by Nicolas Dolin in embossed gilt silver.

The motives which led monarchs like France's Sun King, Louis XIV, or the crafty Doges of Venice, to invest significant financial resources in a bishop's staff known as a crozier or a set of huge candle holders called torcheres (below) were a blend of public piety and craving for political prestige.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

One of a Pair of Torchères, 1762. Created by the Al San Lorenzo

Workshop in Venice and sent to Jerusalem in 1765.

Neither donor intention, especially the second, was entirely in keeping with one of the essential precepts of Christian doctrine. This was proclaimed in the Gospel of St. Matthew, Chapter 6, 19-21.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This sound spiritual advice was frequently ignored by the donors of of these expensive gifts. The French monarchy, during the 1600's, was especially determined to remind the recipients of its gifts in Jerusalem who their benefactor was. As can be seen below, the royal symbol of France, the fleur-de-lis, was engraved and embroidered on every possible space of these works of ecclesiastical art, even on the cross upon which Jesus was martyred.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

Processional Cross, bearing the Fleur-de-lis symbol of the French Monarchy, ca. 1620. Attributed to Claude Caignet; donated by Louis XIII.

By contrast with this excessive royal "branding", the silver bas relief of Christ's resurrection, which we commented upon earlier (shown again, below), merely lists the city of its origin, Naples, and the date of its creation, in a placard above the dramatic scene.

Ed Voves Photo (2025) Detail of The Resurrection, 1736

A practical solution was found to deal with the contradiction of professed piety and worldly ambition. The treasures which the Catholic rulers of Europe sent to Jerusalem were stored, not in heaven, but in the safe-keeping of devout monks, dedicated to lives of holiness, service and poverty. They were - and remain to this day - known as the Order of the Friars Minor, the Frati Francescani, the Franciscans.

Founded in 1209 by St. Francis of Assisi, the Franciscans have been active in the Holy Land for eight hundred years. It takes some time for this span of time to register, but is even more incredible when an additional calculation is factored in. For over five hundred years, from the fall of the last Crusader fortress in 1291 to the landing of Napoleon's expeditionary force in Egypt in 1798, the Franciscans were the only Western European group to maintain a lasting presence in the Holy Land.

The Franciscan mission to the Holy Land began with St. Francis himself in 1219, when he ventured to Egypt to meet Sultan Malek-al-Kamil. Francis' hope to convert the Muslim leader predictably failed. His courage and piety, however, made a lasting and favorable impression. This was quite a contrast to the European military attempts of the era, the Crusades, which attempted to regain the Holy Land by force of arms.

The last Crusader stronghold, the fortress city of Acre, fell to the Muslim armies in 1291. Almost all of the European Christians seeking safety in Acre were slaughtered, enslaved or paid huge sums to greedy Italian ship captains for a passage to safety in Cyprus. A few Franciscans survived and courageously set themselves the task of tending to the remnant of survivors and to Christian pilgrims who undertook the dangerous journey to visit the holy places in Jerusalem.

Illustration from The Mission of the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land. From an historical account by Elzearius Horn OFM, 1731

Thus began the incredible story of the Franciscan mission to the Holy Land, which continues to this day. The formal name of the Franciscan mission in Jerusalem and the Middle East was termed the “Custody of the Holy Land.”

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

Picture taken from the Frick Collection press preview lecture of

To the Holy Sepulcher, showing curator Xavier F. Salomon describing the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, shown on the screen.

The mandate to serve the remaining Catholic population in the Holy Land and to protect the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, was granted to the Franciscans by a special order of Pope Clement VI in 1342.

The Franciscans lived lives of personal privation and much of the funds raised in Europe for their support went to Muslim rulers, as taxes and bribes. The stunningly beautiful vestments and Church vessels and implements on view in the Frick exhibit were for God’s service and in no way reflected the circumstances of the lives of the Franciscans who administered “the Custody of the Holy Land.”

One of the objects in the Frick exhibition which combines the ideals of beauty and actual use in the service of God is a vestment known as a cope, made in Genoa, Italy, at some point in the late 1600's. This incredible garment would have been worn by the Catholic priest celebrating the Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

Cope of the Red Pontifical Vestments of Genoa. Likely from the workshop of Domenico Piola. Gift of the Commissariat of Genoa, 1692.

According to the exhibition text, the form of embroidery used to create this cope was called "needle painting", long and short stitch, using silk thread. Some actual painting on the fabric was also used.

The central image of this "needle painting" is a depiction of St. George slaying the Dragon. St. George was the patron saint of Genoa, Italy, whose fleet of warships frequently battled the Muslim Barbary pirates based in North Africa - when Genoa was't fighting its Christian rival, Venice.

For five hundred years, the Franciscans carefully and guardedly used the sacred works of art like this cope from Genoa. But in a bizarre twist of fate, the Franciscans not only preserved these crucifixes and croziers, candlesticks and copes from the Ottoman Turks. They saved them from the sorrowful fate which befell similar ecclesiastical treasures in Europe during the French Revolution.

When the French Revolution turned violent in 1792, followed by the aggressive military campaigns waged by the French Republic and Napoleon, the churches and monasteries of the Catholic Church were targeted. Many were desecrated and destroyed. First in France and then, as the French legions stormed into Italy, Germany and Austria, many of the sacred vessels used to celebrate the Christian Mass were seized and melted down to provide funding for further invasions and acts of vandalism.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

Throne of Eucharistic Exposition, 1754. Created by Antonio de Laurentiis. Delivered from Naples to Jerusalem, October 24, 1755.

By the time of Napoleon's fall in 1815, almost all of the precious ecclesiastical art of Western Europe had been consumed by the French war machine. Only in Spain, where the populace successfully resisted the French invaders, were numerous works of sacred art preserved, similar to the splendid Throne of Eucharistic Exposition (1754), which we can now view in the Frick exhibit.

Given the tradition - and temptation - of seizing works of art, made of precious metal, and transforming them into weapons of war, the Franciscans kept their holy vessels and vestments a closely-guarded secret. For God's "eyes" only, as it were.

In 1902, the Franciscans opened an archaeological museum in Jerusalem - but the ecclesiastical treasures remained out-of-sight. It was not until the 1970's that scholars were given limited access to study these precious objects.

In 1997, several objects from the Franciscan archaeological museum were loaned to the Metropolitan Museum for its Glory of Byzantium exhibition. This was repeated in 2016 with the Met's exhibit, Jerusalem 1000-1400: Every People Under Heaven. With the success of these exhibitions, it was decided to mount exclusive displays of the Franciscan ecclesiastical treasures in Europe, beginning with a major exhibit at the Palace of Versailles in 2013.

That year, an even bigger decision was made by the Franciscans, to build an art museum in Jerusalem to complement its archaeological collection. For the first time, the Franciscan ecclesiastical treasures will be available for regular public study and enjoyment. The new venue, slated to open in 2027, will be called the Terra Sancta Museum - Art and History.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

Picture from the Frick Collection lecture on To the Holy Sepulcher, showing leading planners of the exhibition, (from left)

art historian Benoît Constensoux, a member of the Franciscan Order, Father Stephane Milovitch, OFM, and Xavier F. Salomon

In the meantime, selections of the Terra Sancta treasures will be continue to be displayed in traveling exhibitions. The Frick Collection played a major part in this initiative, principally through the efforts of its former deputy director, Xavier F. Salomon. After the exhibition finishes its visit to the Frick, it will travel to the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.

The "ambitions" behind the To the Holy Sepulcher exhibition and the new museum in Jerusalem exceed the usual scope of such ventures. True to their mission, the Franciscans are seeking to promote harmony and understanding among people of faith and differing forms of religious observance.

"Dialog is a path of peace that we Franciscans have been following for centuries," noted Father Stephane Milovitch,

Father Milovitch served as the director of the Office of Cultural Heritage of the Custody of the Holy Land during the years of preparation for the To the Holy Sepulcher exhibition.

Ed Voves, Photos (2025)

At left is a Monstrance, from Naples, 1746. At right, silver gilt ecclesiastical vessels donated by the Holy Roman Empire, 1700's

Will this wonderful exhibition at the Frick Collection and the Terra Sancta Museum, when it opens in Jerusalem, succeed in making such a meaningful statement? Will these displays of sacred works of art encourage peace in our contentious world? Admittedly, that is a lot to expect from the curators of art museums.

Yet, on further reflection, there is always ground for hope and prayer. Miracles have been known to happen before in the Holy Land, the Terra Sancta.

***

Introductory Image:

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Detail of one of a set of Red Pontifical Vestments of King Louis XIII of France, 1619.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Gallery view of the Frick Collection, New York, showing Andrea del Verrochio's Bust of a Woman, ca. 1460-1470.

Exterior view of the Frick Collection, New York City, taken on September 30, 2025.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Throne of Eucharistic Exposition, Messina, 1665. Created by Pietro Juvarra (ca. 1609–1705) and his sons Eutichio (d. 1682) and Sebastiano (d. 1701). Cast, chased, embossed, and partially gilt silver, and precious stones H. 73 1/4 in. (186 cm); w. 43 1/2 in. (110.5 cm); depth 15 15/16 in. (40.5 cm) Registered in Jerusalem as a gift from King Philip IV of Spain and Sicily, April 21, 1666. Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem (CTS-OA-25346)

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Red Pontifical Vestments of King Louis XIII of France, 1619. Created by Alexandre Paynet (or Penet) (act. 1615–56).Crimson damask and satin ground (not original). Applied embroidery: gold threads (filé, cordonnet, cannetille, both shiny and crimped), silver thread, silk thread of different thicknesses. Various types of braid; silver (clasps) Embroidery: couching, gaufrure, long and short stitch Cope 1: h. 59 1/16 in. (150 cm); w. 118 1/8 in. (300 cm) Cope 2: h. 60 1/4 in. (153 cm); w. 118 1/8 in. (300 cm) Cope 3: h. 59 13/16 in. (152 cm); w. 118 1/8 in. (300 cm) Dalmatic 1: h. 42 1/2 in. (108 cm); w. 48 in. (122 cm) Dalmatic 2: h. 42 1/2 in. (108 cm); w. 47 5/8 in. (121 cm) Antependium: h. 38 in. (96.5 cm); w. 82 11/16 in. (210 cm) Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem (CTS-OA 20534)

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) The Resurrection, Naples, 1736 Cast, chased, and repoussé silver H. 67 5/16 in. (171.5 cm); w. 78 9/16 in. (199.4 cm); depth 10 5/8 in. (26.7 cm) Inscription: In upper cartouche, NEAPOLI / A.D. MDCCXXXVI (In Naples, in the year of our Lord 1736) Provenance: Delivered from Naples to Jerusalem, August 13, 1737. Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem (CTS-OA-00007)

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Gallery view of the To the Holy Sepulcher: Treasures of the Terra Sancta Museum, showing Crucifix from Naples, 1756, and Throne of Eucharistic Exposition, 1754, also from Naples.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Crucifix, Naples, 1756. Gold, lapis lazuli, almandine garnets, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, quartzes, and glass H. 35 1/2 in. (90 cm); w. 13 1/2 in. (34.2 cm); depth 9 in. (23 cm) Emblems: On base, coat of arms of Commissariat of Naples. Provenance: Delivered from Naples to Jerusalem, June 3, 1757. Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem (CTS-OA-25331)

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Crozier donated by King Louis XIV of France, Paris, 1654-55. Created by Nicolas Dolin (act. in Paris 1648–84) Cast, embossed, chased and gilt silver; cabochons and table-cut amethysts (?) and blue glass h. 80 1/8 in. (203.5 cm); w. 6 11/16 in. (17 cm); depth 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm) Donated by Louis XIV, arrived in Jerusalem on May 8, 1658. Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem (CTS-OA-25416)

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) One of a Pair of Torchères, Venice, 1762. Al San Lorenzo Workshop. Cast, chased, and repoussé silver, gilded in parts H. 96 1/6 in. (244 cm); w. 27 9/16 in. (70 cm); depth 24 13/16 in. (63 cm) Inscriptions: In crowned shields at the base of each base, ANNO / DO. / MDCCLXII (In the year of our Lord 1762). Provenance: Delivered from Venice to Jerusalem, June 23, 1765. Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem (CTS-OA-25345)

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Processional Cross, bearing the Fleur-de-lis symbol of the French Monarchy, ca. 1620. Attributed to Claude Caignet (active as of 1609) and donated by Louis XIII. 107 7/8 x 20 1/4 x 6 6/16 in. (274 x 51.5 x 16 cm) Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem (CTS-OA-25347)

Illustration from The Mission of the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land. In Ichnographiae locorum Monumentorum Veterum Terrae Sanctae, by Elzearius Horn OFM, 1731. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City, Vat. lat.9233.pt.3, 59r

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Picture taken from the Frick Collection press preview lecture of To the Holy Sepulcher, showing curator Xavier F. Salomon describing the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, shown on the screen.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025), Cope of the Red Pontifical Set of Vestments of Genoa, 1686-97. Probably workshop of Domenico Piola (1628–1703). Satin ground. Applied embroidery: silk thread in the manner of “needle painting” (long and short stitch); painting on silk H. 54 1/8 in. (137.5 cm); w. 110 13/16 in. (281.5 cm) Gift of the Commissariat of Genoa; arrived in Jerusalem, 1692 (CTS-OA-20271)

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Throne of Eucharistic Exposition, 1754. Created by Antonio de Laurentiis. Gold, gilt copper, almandine garnets, amethysts, rock crystal, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, carnelians, peridots, smoky quartzes, glass and doublets H. 68 3/4 in. (174.5 cm); w. 32 1/4 in. (82 cm); depth 15 3/8 in. (39 cm) Delivered from Naples to Jerusalem, October 24, 1755. Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem (CTS-OA-25392)

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Picture taken from the Frick Collection press preview lecture of To the Holy Sepulcher, showing leading figures in the planning of the exhibition,(from left) art historian Benoît Constensoux, an unidentified member of the Franciscan Order, Father Stephane Milovitch, OFM, and Xavier F. Salomon

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Monstrance, Naples, 1746. Gold, rubies, emeralds and diamonds: 27 15/16 x 10 1/4 x 7 1/16 in. (71 x 26 x 18 cm.) Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Gallery Photo of the To the Holy Sepulcher exhibition, showing a display of silver gilt ecclesiastical vessels – ewer and basin, dish and chalice, a tray and cruets – donated by the Holy Roman Empire to the Franciscan Order in Jerusalem during the 18^th century.

Friday, October 3, 2025

Art Eyewitness Review: Calder Gardens Museum Grand Opening

Calder Gardens Museum Grand Opening

Review by Ed Voves

Original Photography by Anne Lloyd

The Benjamin Franklin Parkway is a Parisian-style boulevard in the heart of the City of Brotherly Love. It extends from Philadelphia City Hall to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. On Sunday, September 21, 2025, a brand new cultural institution opened its doors, adding to the Parkway's reputation as Philly's "museum mile."

Calder Gardens, dedicated to the art of Alexander Calder (1898-1976), has been on the "drawing board" of the art establishment and city planners of Philadelphia for over twenty-years. I am delighted to say that the long wait has certainly been worth it.

However, if you drive down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway or walk along, past the Barnes Foundation or one of the other museums flanking the Parkway, you may be forgiven if you comment, "I see gardens, but where's the museum?"

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Exterior view of the Calder Gardens Museum, Philadelphia

The actual Calder museum building is largely a subterranean structure. According to Swiss architect, Jacques Herzog, several early designs were considered and rejected because of conflict with the special ambiance of the Parkway. Instead, Herzog noted, the decision was made to proceed with a "more horizontal, nonlinear layout—a sequence of unexpected spaces that unfold and reveal themselves as visitors move through the building rather than a singular form."

Iwan Baan, Photo (2025)

Evening view of Calder Gardens

In non-architectural parlance, this means designing literally "ground-level" galleries for Calder's art, with selected masterpieces on view in the street-level landscape gardens above.

The development fact sheet is impressive, even before considering the Calder artworks. The museum and gardens "footprint" is a 1.8 acre site, with an 18,000 square ft. building, surrounded by gardens with 250 varieties of plants and flowers. Part of the building facade was constructed with blackened wood to evoke the barns of Calder's rural New England residence. The interior of the museum exudes 1950's mid-century modernism, in keeping with the cultural tempo of Calder's heyday.

Quality of this sort does not come without a hefty price tag. The Calder Gardens project expenditure totaled $90 million. But the supervising group, led by Alexander L.R. Rower of the Calder Foundation, ensured that these funds were money well-spent. Thom Collins, the head of the neighboring Barnes Foundation, served on this committee, and he and the Barnes administrative staff will be responsible for the administration and operations of the new museum.

Portraits of Jacques Herzog, lead architect of the Calder Gardens Museum (photo by Gina Folly) and Piet Oudolf, designer of the landscape gardens of Calder Gardens (photo by Tony Spencer)

Herzog and his colleagues at the Herzog-de Meuron firm were chosen for the challenging mission of designing Calder Gardens. They collaborated with Piet Oudolf, a Dutch garden planner who had gained world-wide renown for the gardens he designed for New York City's High Line urban park.

Oudolf was tasked with "sculpting" a landscape to fit the oddly-configured piece of unused ground designated for the new museum in Philly.

To raise the bar even higher, the completed Calder Gardens was conceived as a place for reflection and inspiration, rather than merely galleries for displaying art.

To put such design requirements into practice - above and below ground - meant "squaring the circle." That is just what the Herzog-Oudolf team did.

Iwan Baan, Photo (2025)

Aerial view of Calder Gardens

Piet Oudolf's gardens have yet to fully mature, but the autumnal flowers currently on view are a dazzling sight. Overall, Oudolf's configurations of gardens and pathways fit perfectly into the "city beautiful" layout of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, as planned in the early years of the 20th century. Equally important, the gardens act as a transit way or portal into the sanctuary/museum of Calder Gardens.

Entering the Calder Gardens galleries is a process, an act of descending into an "otherworld" of sensory experience. Several monumental works, called stabiles, are positioned just beyond the doors and windows of the Calder Garden galleries. These convey an ethereal presence with looming shadows or mirror-like reflections.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Alexander Calder's stabile, Tripes, 1974

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Alexander Calder's stabile, Knobs, 1976

The Calder Gardens galleries are a realm of contrasts and chiaroscuro.

Inside, the overhead lighting of the galleries is kept to a manageable minimum. This heightens the effect of beams of natural illumination which flow into the interior at strategic points.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Gallery view of the Calder Gardens Museum

The interior of the Calder Gardens impressed me as a "dreamtime" environment. Stark delineation of Calder's art at some points, deep-shaded pools of space where the jutting armature of stabile or the hovering form of a mobile suddenly emerge, commanding our attention.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Alexander Calder's mobile, entitled Eucalyptus, 1940

This "dreamtime" sensation did not arise by accident. The artworks on display do not have any identifying caption information. The intention of the Calder Gardens curators is to promote a sense of communion between the viewer and the Calder work of art being viewed.

Nor does Calder Gardens have a permanent collection of its own. Every work of art is on loan, mostly from the Calder Foundation in New York City which oversees Calder's legacy. In this premier display of 31 Calder works, MOMA and the Whitney Museum have made generous loans - also without credits.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Two works by Alexander Calder, both entitled Black Widow.

The mobile dates to 1948; the stabile, on loan from MOMA, to 1959.

What you see today, you may not see in a few months. New examples of Calder's incredible creative achievement will be rotated-in to take the place of the mobiles and stabiles, the curious - and often humorous - hybrid sculptures and selected paintings and sketches by Calder chosen for the opening of Calder Gardens.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Standing Mobiles by Alexander Calder

(from left) Sword Plant (1947) and Thirty-Two Discs, 1951

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Gallery view of the Calder Gardens Museum, showing

ink-on-paper drawings and a Calder oil painting, Untitled (1946),

Alexander Calder would almost certainly have approved of this plan to emphasize the spiritual side of art over factual details. In one of his most notable observations on art, Calder joined ranks with Matisse who had famously decreed that "truth is not exactitude." Calder's comment - which dates to 1943 - is worth quoting here, as it validates the methodology of the Calder Gardens curators.

To achieve creative success, "approximation is necessary," Calder wrote, "for one cannot hope to be absolute in his precision. He cannot see, or even conceive of a thing from all possible points of view, simultaneously. While he perfects the front, the side, or rear may be weak; then while he strengthens the other facade he may be weakening that originally the best. There is no end to this. To finish the work, he must approximate."

Herbert Matter, Photo (1947)

Alexander Calder in his Roxbury, Ct. Studio

Alexander Calder's life was a "work in progress." An endless experiment in approximation, the evolution of Calder's art over five astonishing decades exemplifies the American artistic experience during 20th century. But the decision to refrain from meticulously charting the steps of Calder's artistic career and, rather, to focus upon the spiritual journey of art - which applies to us all - was a wise one.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Gallery view of the Calder Gardens Museum, showing

Alexander Calder's Jerusalem Stabile II, 1976

Be it noted, the Calder Garden's website has all the relevant title, creation date and measurement information readily available. It will be updated as the exhibited works change over the course of time.

At the risk of immediately contradicting myself, I would recommend completing a visit to Calder Gardens with a walking tour of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the Calder artworks to be found there. This may seem like the very art/historical approach which the museum philosophy rejects. But the walk will be good exercise, physical and intellectual.

Calder was a "native son" of Philadelphia, but he actually lived in the city only during his childhood years. Yet Philadelphia is indeed a great site for a Calder museum. The lives and careers of Calder's grandfather (Alexander Milne Calder) and father (Alexander Stirling Calder) are an integral part of the city's cultural legacy. And Calder himself, as we will briefly discuss, made his own mark in the city of his birth.

The Calder Gardens has a small display of art by grandfather and father which certainly sets the stage for appreciating the third generation Calder's works on view in the main galleries.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Comparative photos of Alexander Milne Calder’s bronze model,

William Penn (1888), and the monumental version placed

on top of Philadelphia’s City Hall in 1894

However, the best way to view the sculptures of Calder's grandfather and father is to step outside Calder Gardens and have a look for yourself. At one end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, you will see the monumental bronze figure of William Penn, created by the Scottish-born Alexander Milne Calder (1846-1923). Standing 37 feet tall and weighing 53,000 pounds, it was cast in 14 pieces and erected on top of Philadelphia City Hall in 1894.

Alexander Stirling Calder (1870-1945) designed the art deco Swan Fountain in Logan Square, within easy eyesight of Calder Gardens (below). Enrolling in the Pennsylvania Academy of Art at the age of fifteen, Alexander Stirling was one of the major public art sculptors throughout the U.S. Classical art still held sway during Alexander Stirling's day, but his son would not follow in his footsteps.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

The Swan Fountain, designed by Alexander Stirling Calder, 1926

Alexander Calder began creating "mobiles" in the 1930's while he was living in France. Calder was inspired by the abstract art of of his close friend Joan Miro, and by that of Piet Mondrian. The name "mobile" was suggested to Calder by Marcel Duchamp. Initially, some of Calder's mobiles were power by small motors. Later, after dedicated study and experimentation, he perfected the "floating" mobiles whose movements are the driven by the slightest of air currents.

After returning to the U.S., Calder established his studio and production facility in Roxbury, Connecticut. But it was in Philadelphia, that he scored the breakout success of his career.

Herbert Gehr, Life Magazine, Photo (1949)

Alexander Calder installing International Mobile, Third International

Exhibition of Sculpture. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1949

In 1949, Calder hoisted one of his mobiles over the Great Hall Staircase of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) during a major art conference/exhibition. The event was covered by Life Magazine, the supreme arbiter of American popular taste in the post-war era.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023)

Alexander Calder's mobile, Ghost (1964), Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Calder mobile now hanging over the Great Hall of the PMA is a later creation, entitled Ghost. It was made in 1964, perhaps ironically, to hang in the Guggenheim Museum for a special exhibition. Calder mobiles really don't need motors; they find ways of moving around all their own!

Calder's 1949 triumph set him on a course of international success that was still going strong at the time of his death in November 1976. He was working on a grand mobile for the new East Wing of the National Gallery in Washington D.C., set to open in 1978. The mobile was completed by Paul Matisse, grandson of the painter, who had joined the design team at Calder's request to help address problems due to the size and weight of the huge mobile. The solution was to use aluminum rather than steel.

Thus, we can consider Calder as a living example of his working creed of approximation: always searching, experimenting, testing to create mobiles which moved gracefully in the gentle air currents and in the hearts and minds of those watching from below.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Alexander Calder's Three Segments, 1973

Calder was no doubt correct in choosing approximation rather than hard-edged absolutes as the guiding precept of his art. However, while partaking of the sanctuary-like atmosphere of Calder Gardens, I can affirm one unquestioned "absolute":

When you raise your head and focus your eyes on a Calder masterpiece like the mobile, Three Segments, you are in the presence of undoubted genius.

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Original photography, copyright of Anne Lloyd

Introductory Image: Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Alexander Calder’s Tripes, 1974. (descriptive information and dimensions below).

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Exterior view of the Calder Gardens Museum on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, showing the Calder Gardens logo.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Tripes,1974. Monumental Sculpture, Stabile. Sheet metal, bolts and paint: 12’ x 11’ x 9’10”. Calder Foundation, New York.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Knobs, 1976. Monumental Sculpture, Stabile. Sheet metal, bolts and paint:11’ 9” x 5’5 ¾” x 8’1 ½”. Calder Foundation, New York.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery view of the Calder Gardens Museum.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Eucalyptus, 1940. Hanging Mobile. Sheet metal, wire and paint: 94 1/2” x 61”. Calder Foundation, New York, gift of Andrea Davidson, Shawn Davidson, Alexander S.C. Rower & Holton Rower, 2010.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery view of the Calder Gardens Museum, showing Alexander Calder’s Black Widow Mobile (1948) Sheet metal, wire and paint: 128” x 99”. (Instituto de Arquitetos do Brazil; and Black Widow Stabile (1959) Sheet metal, bolts and paint: 92" x 171” x 89”. MOMA collection.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Sword Plant, 1947. Standing Mobile. Sheet metal, rod, wire and paint: 38 1/2” x 31” x 28 1/2”. Calder Foundation, New York.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Thirty-two Discs, 1951. Standing Mobile. Sheet metal, rod, wire and paint: 90” x 35" x 31”. Calder Foundation, New York.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery view of the Calder Gardens Museum, ink on paper drawings from the 1930’s and an oil on canvas painting, Untitled, dating to 1946.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Jerusalem Stabile II,1976. Monumental Sculpture, Stabile. Sheet metal, bolts and paint: 11’9” x 24’ x 11’11”. Calder Foundation, New York. Gift of the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation, 2005.

Anne Lloyd, Photos (2025) Comparative photos of Alexander Milne Calder’s bronze model, William Penn, 1888: 28 x 9 /1/4 x 14 ¾ in., collection of the Calder Foundation, and the monumental version of William Penn (Bronze: 36 feet tall & cast, 1893) placed on top of Philadelphia’s City Hall in 1894.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Alexander Stirling Calder’s Swan Fountain, 1926.

Herbert Gehr, Photo (1949) Alexander Calder installing his International Mobile at the Third International Exhibition of Sculpture, Philadelphia Museum of Art, May 14, 1949. © Life Magazine. © 2025 Calder Foundation/Artists Rights Society, NY.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2023) Ghost, 1964. Hanging Mobile. Painted sheet metal and metal rods: 34' in length. Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Three Segments, 1973. Hanging Mobile, Monumental Sculpture. Sheet metal, rod, wire and paint: 79” x 16’18”. Calder Foundation, New York.