The artwork titled “Babe Ruth” by Alexander Calder, created around 1936, falls under the expressionism movement and is a sculpture. This representation of the legendary baseball player Babe Ruth is expressed through Calder’s distinctive style, capturing the essence of the figure with abstract, expressive forms.
The sculpture presented is a wire sculpture that depicts a simplified and abstracted human face. It features elements such as a prominent nose, an emphasized chin, curving lines representing a cap, and other facial features that are reduced to their simplest forms. The lines are playful and seem to capture a character rather than a realistic portrait, which is in keeping with the expressionist movement’s focus on emotional experience over physical reality. The use of wire in a linear, almost sketched manner gives the impression that Calder has drawn the figure in space, creating a three-dimensional drawing suspended in the air. The way the wire sculpture is hung suggests that it is meant to be viewed in the round, offering different perspectives and shadows depending on the viewer’s position.
