Get yourself to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC this summer to see Alexander Calder's Portraits: A New Language. This exhibit of remarkably executed wire images runs through August 14, 2011.

Calder executed portraits of many entertainers, artists and athletes by bending and twisting wire, an unusual material for portraiture, to depict their character and spirit. Babe Ruth, Josephine Baker and many other personalities were thus portrayed beginning in the 1920s.

The suspended portraits move freely and are exhibited along with contemporary caricatures, drawings and photos, giving us a fuller picture of 10th century American culture.

If you want to know more, get Calder’s Portraits by Barbara Zabel.

Hang a Calder colorful Calder lithograph on your wall, check out our offering of lithographs by Alexander Calder.

You don’t need to deprive yourself of the enjoyment Calder’s work if you’re spending your summer on the west coast. An exhibit of Calder’s kinetic sculptures is at the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach, California until September 4, 2011. About 30 of Calder’s works are exhibited along with the work of seven contemporary artists who revisit Calder’s aesthetic in their own work.

To read by the pool - The Essential Alexander Calder by Howard Greenfeld.