Alexander Calder

Perls Galleries, New York
Private Collection, Japan (acquired directly from the above circa 1980)
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There is light wear with associated paint loss to the edges and tip of the red base and some further light wear to the three white discs, partially visible in the catalogue illustration.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

After World War II, Alexander Calder started realising monumental mobiles for architectural projects, for which he had to submit maquettes. This sparked his interest in creating increasingly small stabiles, of which he says that he “got a real kick out of making as tiny as my supposedly clumsy hands can manage” (The artist quoted in Daniel Marchesseau, The Intimate World of Alexander Calder, Paris 1989, p. 204).
Very special to Calder, these “pocket mobiles” were made exclusively for his close friends such as Saul Steinberg, Fernand Leger or Joan Miro. The latter affectionately nicknamed Alexander Calder “Sandy” during their five-decade long friendship, during which they inspired each other and shared a similar tender and playful vision of colour, shape, and space.
In 1945, Marcel Duchamp had the idea of exhibiting these whimsical little objects at the Galerie Louis Carre in Paris. In the exhibition catalogue, Jean-Paul Sartre wrote that Calder’s mobiles are neither sculptures, which suggest movement, nor paintings, which suggest light; instead they “truly capture movements in the air and embody them. They owe their lives to the life of the atmosphere. They simply are, they are absolutes” (Jean-Paul Sartre translated from French, in the Exhibition Catalogue, Calder: Mobiles, Stabiles, Constellations, Paris 1946, pp. 11 and 15).
Moving, poetic and amusing, the miniature mobiles of which the current lot is a wonderful example speak eloquently of Calder’s good natured and mischievous temperament. As they somehow manage to be plaything and work of art at the same time – and to the fullest extent of each, they are a reflection on the ambiguity of their maker, “the guy who looked like a general and made such strange toys” (Gostoso, a gardener in Rio, quoted in Daniel Marchesseau, op. cit., pp. 202-3).
Minuscule creature animated by the slightest breeze or the gentlest touch, helpless, selfless, spellbinding, this piece also represented a challenge to overcome for Calder. Its curlicue tail on one side and small flat white moons designed to catch the wind on the other must all be balanced gradually until the artist has found the perfect gracious fulcrum which, on a piece this scale, shows the full extent of Calder’s mastery.