Free Calder | O’Keeffe Exhibition Walkthrough (Palo Alto)

Portrait of Alexander S. C. Rower. Photo: Maria Robledo. © 2026 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Celebrating the grand opening of Hauser & Wirth Palo Alto and its inaugural exhibition, ‘Calder | O’Keeffe,’ please join us for an exhibition walkthrough with Calder Foundation President Alexander S. C. Rower and Senior Curatorial Director Alexis Lowry to discuss the artist Alexander Calder and his exceptional works on view.

Developed in close collaboration with the Calder Foundation, ‘Calder | O’Keeffe’ brings together works by these two iconic artists, complemented by archival materials documenting their decades-long friendship.

‘Calder | O’Keeffe’ is organized by Hauser & Wirth Curatorial Senior Director Alexis Lowry. The exhibition is our second major presentation of Calder’s work in California—the critically acclaimed exhibition ‘Calder: Nonspace’ was held at our downtown Los Angeles complex in 2018—and coincides with the upcoming presentation ‘Calder. François Premier’ opening at Hauser & Wirth Paris on 19 October 2026.

Following the walkthrough, join us for the Grand Opening on Emerson Street – a block party featuring live performances by Stanford Taiko and Cardinal Calypso, DJ sets by GULU, Tie Dye Trippin and bella d. and food trucks by Rincon Del Cielo Taqueria, Bay Area Munchiez and Crazy Empanadas. Enjoy complimentary Salt & Straw ice cream and Fez Coffee under shaded communal tables after exploring the first-of-its-kind exhibition.

This event is free, however, reservations are recommended.

About Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder (1898–1976) utilized his innovative genius to profoundly change the course of modern art. Born in a family of celebrated, though more 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 creating the mobile, whose suspended, abstract elements move 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).

Major retrospectives of Calder’s work during his lifetime were held at the George Walter Vincent Smith Gallery, Springfield, Massachusetts (1938); The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1943–44); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1964–65); The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1964); Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris (1965); Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France (1969); and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1976–77). Calder died in New York in 1976 at the age of seventy-eight.

About Alexander S. C. Rower
Alexander S. C. Rower is the grandson of Alexander Calder and the president of the Calder Foundation. Since creating the nonprofit organization in 1987, Rower has documented more than 22,000 works by Calder, established an extensive archive dedicated to the artist’s practice, and collaborated on over 100 exhibitions worldwide.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.