Alexander CALDER (1898-1976)
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Glass and crystal
Chronology : 1945 1952 1953 1957 1959
See also : Glass and crystal
Chronology : 1945 1952 1953 1957 1959
masterpiece
1939 Lobster Trap and Fish Tail
MoMA
Son of an artist, Alexander Calder is a mechanical engineer. To rebuild the world, he tries to create carousels of toys, before introducing the movement in sculpture.
The story of his visit to Mondrian in 1930 is probably true. He would like the little artworks to fly away from the wall and occupy the space. Back from Europe in 1933, he set up his workshop in Roxbury, Connecticut. He had developed in Paris his new forms of art, the figurative wire sculpture and then the abstract mobile inspired by nature.
His desire is to occupy space, as nature does. The leaves of his tree do not shade each other. In his so called mobiles, he hangs his art at the ceiling through a wire so that it moves in the air stream.
His experience accumulates over the years. In order for his hanging mobiles to be spectacular, he increases the number of plaques and enlarges the span, proportionally reducing the visibility on the single wire which links the piece to the ceiling. He sometimes gives the opus a title inspired by nature and adds poetry through the choice of colors.
Built around a stem or suspended from the ceiling by a string, these works of art move with the air flow. They are appealing by their humor but their balance that may seem precarious meets the design accuracy of the engineer. The materials are commonplace.
Alfred H. Barr Jr, the founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, is a pioneer for the artistic relations between Europe and America. In 1939, he commissions a monumental work to Calder for the staircase of a new MoMA building. Made of steel wire and painted aluminum sheets, Lobster Trap and Fish Tail is a mobile in which the basket is made of steel wire.
Standing mobiles were first exhibited at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York in 1941,
The story of his visit to Mondrian in 1930 is probably true. He would like the little artworks to fly away from the wall and occupy the space. Back from Europe in 1933, he set up his workshop in Roxbury, Connecticut. He had developed in Paris his new forms of art, the figurative wire sculpture and then the abstract mobile inspired by nature.
His desire is to occupy space, as nature does. The leaves of his tree do not shade each other. In his so called mobiles, he hangs his art at the ceiling through a wire so that it moves in the air stream.
His experience accumulates over the years. In order for his hanging mobiles to be spectacular, he increases the number of plaques and enlarges the span, proportionally reducing the visibility on the single wire which links the piece to the ceiling. He sometimes gives the opus a title inspired by nature and adds poetry through the choice of colors.
Built around a stem or suspended from the ceiling by a string, these works of art move with the air flow. They are appealing by their humor but their balance that may seem precarious meets the design accuracy of the engineer. The materials are commonplace.
Alfred H. Barr Jr, the founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, is a pioneer for the artistic relations between Europe and America. In 1939, he commissions a monumental work to Calder for the staircase of a new MoMA building. Made of steel wire and painted aluminum sheets, Lobster Trap and Fish Tail is a mobile in which the basket is made of steel wire.
Standing mobiles were first exhibited at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York in 1941,
1945 Lily of Force
2012 SOLD for $ 18.5M by Christie's
"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of them." (Luke 12:27).
In 1945, Alexander Calder looked at the lilies. Not only Lily of Force is one of his most successful mobiles, but it provides the key to the inspiration of the artist.
Lily of Force is a complex wire structure, over 2 meters high, perfectly balanced despite its delicate features. The lilies have found their way up. The movement of the mobile reminds the passage of sunlight in the foliage, with the wonderful effect of nature when leaves never shadow one another.
It is also a bridge between abstraction and figuration in the art of Calder. For another reason, this artwork is highly important. Calder loved Europe and its avant-gardes, Mondrian, Miro. Fleeing the war, he is in the United States in 1945. Lily of Force is a link between Europe slowed by the war and the sudden restart of American creativity : Pollock, Still, Rothko.
Lily of force was sold for $ 18.5M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Christie's on May 8, 2012, lot 33. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In 1945, Alexander Calder looked at the lilies. Not only Lily of Force is one of his most successful mobiles, but it provides the key to the inspiration of the artist.
Lily of Force is a complex wire structure, over 2 meters high, perfectly balanced despite its delicate features. The lilies have found their way up. The movement of the mobile reminds the passage of sunlight in the foliage, with the wonderful effect of nature when leaves never shadow one another.
It is also a bridge between abstraction and figuration in the art of Calder. For another reason, this artwork is highly important. Calder loved Europe and its avant-gardes, Mondrian, Miro. Fleeing the war, he is in the United States in 1945. Lily of Force is a link between Europe slowed by the war and the sudden restart of American creativity : Pollock, Still, Rothko.
Lily of force was sold for $ 18.5M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Christie's on May 8, 2012, lot 33. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1948 Hanging Mobile
2021 SOLD for $ 11.3M by Sotheby's
Around 1948 Alexander Calder manages elegantly curved forms in the structure of his fully balanced hanging mobiles, some of them being kinetic feats.
An untitled mobile made of a suite of ten plates suspended to the ceiling by a single de-centered wire provides an impression of a weightless horizontal figure.
This piece 293 cm long with narrow height and depth was made of unpainted metal elements carefully adjusted in their amorphous shapes. Two of them had needed two holes each to maintain the balance.
This ethereal mobile was sold for $ 11.3M from a lower estimate of $ 4.5M by Sotheby's on May 12, 2021, lot 111.
An untitled mobile made of a suite of ten plates suspended to the ceiling by a single de-centered wire provides an impression of a weightless horizontal figure.
This piece 293 cm long with narrow height and depth was made of unpainted metal elements carefully adjusted in their amorphous shapes. Two of them had needed two holes each to maintain the balance.
This ethereal mobile was sold for $ 11.3M from a lower estimate of $ 4.5M by Sotheby's on May 12, 2021, lot 111.
1949 Hanging Mobile
2021 SOLD for $ 19.7M by Sotheby's
A monumental mobile 325 x 427 cm by Calder was sold for $ 19.7M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Sotheby's on November 16, 2021, lot 9. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
It is made of 15 metal elements connected with wire, including an elegant arcing tail. 14 are painted in black and the other one in red.
This untitled piece had been made in 1949 from a private commission for a modernist Brazilian home.
It is made of 15 metal elements connected with wire, including an elegant arcing tail. 14 are painted in black and the other one in red.
This untitled piece had been made in 1949 from a private commission for a modernist Brazilian home.
1950 Snow Flurry
2012 SOLD for $ 10.5M by Christie's
From his home in Roxbury CT, Alexander Calder observed the blizzard. In 1946 his first turning hanging mobile on that theme was made in 1946.
An opportunity with snow occurred in 1948. He conceived the Snow Flurry, only made of white discs of various sizes in painted metal, split on space in all directions through the dark metal wire branches. The first three examples were numbered I to III. The largest of the three originals is 240 x 210 cm.
He added non-serialized pieces from that model until 1959. The largest were made in 1955, 320 x 250 cm, and in 1959, 244 x 430 cm.
A Snow Flurry 152 x 213 cm was sold for $ 10.4M from a lower estimate of $ 3.5M by Christie's on May 8, 2012, lot 11. Made in 1950, it had been commissioned for the home of a modernist architect.
An opportunity with snow occurred in 1948. He conceived the Snow Flurry, only made of white discs of various sizes in painted metal, split on space in all directions through the dark metal wire branches. The first three examples were numbered I to III. The largest of the three originals is 240 x 210 cm.
He added non-serialized pieces from that model until 1959. The largest were made in 1955, 320 x 250 cm, and in 1959, 244 x 430 cm.
A Snow Flurry 152 x 213 cm was sold for $ 10.4M from a lower estimate of $ 3.5M by Christie's on May 8, 2012, lot 11. Made in 1950, it had been commissioned for the home of a modernist architect.
1951 Mariposa
2020 SOLD for $ 18.2M by Sotheby's
Calder pushes his mobiles to the limit of the impossible. He is an engineer, but his method certainly involves a great deal of empiricism. Nothing should unbalance his structures. When a heavy plaque is dragged down, he simply makes holes to adjust its weight. Black Lace, 160 x 280 cm, made circa 1947, is an example of this process. This mobile was sold for £ 5.2M by Sotheby's on March 8, 2017, lot 28.
A 107 x 213 cm mobile made in 1951 is a feat of aligning the elements around a horizontal plane. It was sold for $ 4.9M by Sotheby's on May 13, 2013.
Made in the same year, Mariposa, 317 x 310 cm, is an opposite feat from the previous example, with a sensational height. The anchor point separates a large plaque from a tree of eighteen small plaques, three of which have been pierced.
The gradual decrease in the elements and their vivid colors may give the idea of a flight of red, white, black and yellow butterflies. This work was purchased directly from Calder by the CEO of the department store Neiman Marcus, whose signature image is the butterfly. Often displayed in the stores, it had remained in the family. It was sold for $ 18.2M from a lower estimate of $ 6M by Sotheby's on December 8, 2020, lot 4.
A 107 x 213 cm mobile made in 1951 is a feat of aligning the elements around a horizontal plane. It was sold for $ 4.9M by Sotheby's on May 13, 2013.
Made in the same year, Mariposa, 317 x 310 cm, is an opposite feat from the previous example, with a sensational height. The anchor point separates a large plaque from a tree of eighteen small plaques, three of which have been pierced.
The gradual decrease in the elements and their vivid colors may give the idea of a flight of red, white, black and yellow butterflies. This work was purchased directly from Calder by the CEO of the department store Neiman Marcus, whose signature image is the butterfly. Often displayed in the stores, it had remained in the family. It was sold for $ 18.2M from a lower estimate of $ 6M by Sotheby's on December 8, 2020, lot 4.
1952 Fish
2019 SOLD for $ 17.5M by Christie's
Calder's encounter with the fish was a must. The animal moves freely in its aquarium like the leaf of a mobile. Its shape seen by Calder is childishly simple : the lines of the body cross to form the tail.
Around 1942 he hooks two filiform fish as mobiles within a stabile surrounding of water weeds. This composite work 52 cm high was sold for $ 2.53M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018.
In 1946 he creates for Peggy Guggenheim's personal use a fish mobile which will become a subject of amusement in her cocktail parties.
On May 15, 2019, Christie's sold for $ 17.5M from a lower estimate of $ 12.5M Fish, hanging mobile 39 x 112 cm made by Calder around 1952, lot 14 B. The outline of this nice fish is made of a few metal rods in the style of a child's drawing. The mouth is wide open. The crossing of two rods binds body and tail. The signature of the initials CA of the artist, made in two folded strings, hangs from that place.
In this subtle frame that might seem rudimentary, the artist has positioned an eye and 33 fish scales. An inner circle reinforces the figure of the eye. A piece of broken glass is tied by a string in each cell. Each piece of glass has another shape and the colors are of high diversity. The movement of the mobile changes the shining effect of these colored elements.
Around 1942 he hooks two filiform fish as mobiles within a stabile surrounding of water weeds. This composite work 52 cm high was sold for $ 2.53M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018.
In 1946 he creates for Peggy Guggenheim's personal use a fish mobile which will become a subject of amusement in her cocktail parties.
On May 15, 2019, Christie's sold for $ 17.5M from a lower estimate of $ 12.5M Fish, hanging mobile 39 x 112 cm made by Calder around 1952, lot 14 B. The outline of this nice fish is made of a few metal rods in the style of a child's drawing. The mouth is wide open. The crossing of two rods binds body and tail. The signature of the initials CA of the artist, made in two folded strings, hangs from that place.
In this subtle frame that might seem rudimentary, the artist has positioned an eye and 33 fish scales. An inner circle reinforces the figure of the eye. A piece of broken glass is tied by a string in each cell. Each piece of glass has another shape and the colors are of high diversity. The movement of the mobile changes the shining effect of these colored elements.
1953 21 Feuilles blanches
2018 SOLD for $ 18M by Christie's
A hanging mobile 150 x 204 x 89 cm executed by Calder in 1953 is made of 21 metal elements, all painted in a resplendent pure white. The difference with the Snow Flurry is the varied shape of the plates.
This mobile 150 x 205 x 89 cm was sold for $ 18M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Christie's on November 15, 2018, lot 5C.
This mobile 150 x 205 x 89 cm was sold for $ 18M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Christie's on November 15, 2018, lot 5C.
1957 Poisson Volant
2014 SOLD for $ 26M by Christie's
Around 1952 Calder simulates the fish scales in many colors by tiny pieces of glass which he hangs in a structure of rods and strings. This mobile 112 cm long which is perfectly balanced under a single string was sold for $ 17.5M by Christie's on May 15, 2019.
With The Fish in 1957, 175 cm long hanging by three wires, sold for $ 5.1M by Christie's on November 10, 2015, lot 9 B, the metal plaques of the fins form a rudder.
Poisson volant, also created in 1957, is resolutely funny. A ravenous fish in black painted metal has its mouth wide open to swallow a prey that floats in the air in front of it. The fish consists of a bulky plaque for the body and of the tail which is a mobile in fifteen elements under three branches.
This hanging group 226 cm long achieves its incredible balance with two strings at the muzzle and one at the middle of the back. It was sold for $ 26M by Christie's on May 13, 2014 from a lower estimate of $ 9M, lot 8. I invite you to turn around this mobile with the video prepared by the auction house.
With The Fish in 1957, 175 cm long hanging by three wires, sold for $ 5.1M by Christie's on November 10, 2015, lot 9 B, the metal plaques of the fins form a rudder.
Poisson volant, also created in 1957, is resolutely funny. A ravenous fish in black painted metal has its mouth wide open to swallow a prey that floats in the air in front of it. The fish consists of a bulky plaque for the body and of the tail which is a mobile in fifteen elements under three branches.
This hanging group 226 cm long achieves its incredible balance with two strings at the muzzle and one at the middle of the back. It was sold for $ 26M by Christie's on May 13, 2014 from a lower estimate of $ 9M, lot 8. I invite you to turn around this mobile with the video prepared by the auction house.
1959 39=50
2022 SOLD for $ 15.6M by Phillips
In 1959 Alexander Calder had prepared an untitled hanging mobile of 39 white discs on the model of the Snow Flurry.
Two years later, a friend requested a piece of 50 elements for celebrating the 50th anniversary of his wife. Sandy did not have it ready. He chose to supply the 39 disc mobile instead. With his usual delicacy and humor, he titled it 39=50, rejuvenating the lady by that way.
This cascade of snow 120 x 260 cm was sold for $ 15.6M from a lower estimate of $ 10.5M by Phillips on May 18, 2022, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Two years later, a friend requested a piece of 50 elements for celebrating the 50th anniversary of his wife. Sandy did not have it ready. He chose to supply the 39 disc mobile instead. With his usual delicacy and humor, he titled it 39=50, rejuvenating the lady by that way.
This cascade of snow 120 x 260 cm was sold for $ 15.6M from a lower estimate of $ 10.5M by Phillips on May 18, 2022, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1962 Blue Moon
2024 SOLD for $ 14.4M by Sotheby's
An engineer and a complete artist, Alexander Calder incorporated the motion in the art of sculpture. He also desired to add sound. He early experimented on including a percussive gong and its mallet in mobiles. It was not music of course but the chance noise related to the air flux delighted him. Bertoia will begin his Sonambient sound sculptures ca 1960.
The culmination of Calder's sound work is the suspended mobile Blue Moon in 1962 and the standing mobile Chef d'Orchestre in 1964.
The monumental Blue Moon spanning 152 x 760 cm is the largest full scale hanging sound mobile by Calder. It was made of painted metal sheets for a solo exhibition at Tate Gallery.
The sound branch is made successively with the yellow brass gong, the wire mallet, a red full moon, a blue moon crescent, a red moon crescent ans a terminal element. The balancing branch has six black elements.
Blue Moon was sold for $ 14.4M from a lower estimate of $ 7M by Sotheby's on May 15, 2024, lot 3. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The culmination of Calder's sound work is the suspended mobile Blue Moon in 1962 and the standing mobile Chef d'Orchestre in 1964.
The monumental Blue Moon spanning 152 x 760 cm is the largest full scale hanging sound mobile by Calder. It was made of painted metal sheets for a solo exhibition at Tate Gallery.
The sound branch is made successively with the yellow brass gong, the wire mallet, a red full moon, a blue moon crescent, a red moon crescent ans a terminal element. The balancing branch has six black elements.
Blue Moon was sold for $ 14.4M from a lower estimate of $ 7M by Sotheby's on May 15, 2024, lot 3. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
