- 4
Alexander Calder
Estimate
500,000 - 700,000 GBP
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Description
- Alexander Calder
- The Red Base
- signed with the artist's monogram and dated 69 on the base
- painted metal and wire standing mobile
- 98 by 200 by 38.3cm.
- 38 1/2 by 78 3/4 by 15in.
Provenance
Private Collection, Stockholm (acquired directly from the artist circa 1969)
Sale: Christie's, London, Impressionist and Modern Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, 3 July 1973, Lot 73
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner
Sale: Christie's, London, Impressionist and Modern Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, 3 July 1973, Lot 73
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner
Exhibited
Stockholm, Galerie Blanche, Alexander Calder: mobile, stabile-mobiler, goucher 1961-1970, 1970, no. 6
London, Gimpel Fils, Master sculptors of the 20th Century, 1973, no. 32, illustrated
London, Gimpel Fils, Master sculptors of the 20th Century, 1973, no. 32, illustrated
Condition
Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate although the overall tonalities are slightly darker in the original.
Condition: This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals there are a few minor losses and rub marks, some of which are visible in the catalogue illustration, as is consistent with the kinetic nature of the work. No restoration is apparent under ultraviolet light.
"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."
"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."
Catalogue Note
"Why must art be static?... The next step in sculpture is motion"
The artist, cited in: Howard Greenfeld, The Essential Alexander Calder, New York 2003, p. 67.
The Red Base is a stunning example of Alexander Calder’s later works, a brilliantly conceived and executed celebration of the artist’s love of vibrant colour and graceful form. Resident in the same Swedish collection since 1973, Red Base’s provenance reflects the popularity of Calder within Sweden during the 1960s and 1970s following the well-attended Movement in Art Exhibition at the Moderna Museet in 1961. Indeed, Calder’s monumental Four Elements can still be seen outside the museum today (Calder gifted a small model of the piece to the director of the Moderna Museet, Pontus Hultén, who carried it carefully back with him on the plane from New York to Stockholm; thankfully, it arrived intact).
Calder particularly adored the colour red, declaring that: “I love red so much that I almost want to paint everything red” (the artist, cited in: Jacob Baal-Teshuva, Calder, Cologne 2002, p. 81). The Red Base is indeed dominated by the joyful brightness of the hue, which contrasts to brilliant effect with the black and yellow of the disks suspended at either side of the main body. The Red Base perfectly distils the ideals behind Calder’s creation of his mobiles and standing mobiles, an area he was first inspired to explore in 1930 following a visit to Mondrian’s studio. Calder recalled that: "I was very moved by Mondrian’s studio, large, beautiful and irregular in shape as it was… I thought at the time how fine it would be if everything there moved…" (the artist, cited in: Howard Greenfeld, The Essential Alexander Calder, New York 2003, p. 57). Calder refined this idea throughout the following decades, honing his creative techniques to the level of exquisite excellence evinced by the present work.
Delicately posed on a trio of points, The Red Base seems primed to take flight with its ‘wings’ of wire quivering at either side of its apex, reminiscent in aspect of the classical figure of Nike of Samothrace. White petals dance, feather-like, at the tips of the wire wings, whilst a yellow and black disk hover at either side of the metal body as though anticipating a solar eclipse. The overall effect is one of extraordinary dynamism, the wire elements endlessly in motion in dramatic contrast to the solidity of the eponymous base itself. Jean-Paul Sartre wrote movingly of the excitement engendered by Calder’s mobiles: “A ‘mobile,’ one might say is a little private celebration, an object defined by its movement and having no other existence… They are, that is all; they are absolutes. There is more of the unpredictable about them than in any other human creation. No human brain, not even their creator’s, could possibly foresee all the complex combinations of which they are capable” (Jean-Paul Sartre,'Les Mobiles des Calder', Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, Galerie Louis Carré, Alexander Calder: Mobiles, Stabiles,
Constellations, 1946). In its unpredictability of movement and inherent kinetic properties, The Red Baseis a gloriously exuberant and extraordinarily graceful work by a sculptor truly revelling in the technical possibilities of his complex medium.
The artist, cited in: Howard Greenfeld, The Essential Alexander Calder, New York 2003, p. 67.
The Red Base is a stunning example of Alexander Calder’s later works, a brilliantly conceived and executed celebration of the artist’s love of vibrant colour and graceful form. Resident in the same Swedish collection since 1973, Red Base’s provenance reflects the popularity of Calder within Sweden during the 1960s and 1970s following the well-attended Movement in Art Exhibition at the Moderna Museet in 1961. Indeed, Calder’s monumental Four Elements can still be seen outside the museum today (Calder gifted a small model of the piece to the director of the Moderna Museet, Pontus Hultén, who carried it carefully back with him on the plane from New York to Stockholm; thankfully, it arrived intact).
Calder particularly adored the colour red, declaring that: “I love red so much that I almost want to paint everything red” (the artist, cited in: Jacob Baal-Teshuva, Calder, Cologne 2002, p. 81). The Red Base is indeed dominated by the joyful brightness of the hue, which contrasts to brilliant effect with the black and yellow of the disks suspended at either side of the main body. The Red Base perfectly distils the ideals behind Calder’s creation of his mobiles and standing mobiles, an area he was first inspired to explore in 1930 following a visit to Mondrian’s studio. Calder recalled that: "I was very moved by Mondrian’s studio, large, beautiful and irregular in shape as it was… I thought at the time how fine it would be if everything there moved…" (the artist, cited in: Howard Greenfeld, The Essential Alexander Calder, New York 2003, p. 57). Calder refined this idea throughout the following decades, honing his creative techniques to the level of exquisite excellence evinced by the present work.
Delicately posed on a trio of points, The Red Base seems primed to take flight with its ‘wings’ of wire quivering at either side of its apex, reminiscent in aspect of the classical figure of Nike of Samothrace. White petals dance, feather-like, at the tips of the wire wings, whilst a yellow and black disk hover at either side of the metal body as though anticipating a solar eclipse. The overall effect is one of extraordinary dynamism, the wire elements endlessly in motion in dramatic contrast to the solidity of the eponymous base itself. Jean-Paul Sartre wrote movingly of the excitement engendered by Calder’s mobiles: “A ‘mobile,’ one might say is a little private celebration, an object defined by its movement and having no other existence… They are, that is all; they are absolutes. There is more of the unpredictable about them than in any other human creation. No human brain, not even their creator’s, could possibly foresee all the complex combinations of which they are capable” (Jean-Paul Sartre,'Les Mobiles des Calder', Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, Galerie Louis Carré, Alexander Calder: Mobiles, Stabiles,
Constellations, 1946). In its unpredictability of movement and inherent kinetic properties, The Red Baseis a gloriously exuberant and extraordinarily graceful work by a sculptor truly revelling in the technical possibilities of his complex medium.