Alexander Calder

Perls Galleries, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above in December 1961

New York, Perls Galleries, Calder: Recent Works, February - March 1958
Wilmington, Delaware Art Center, Wilmington Society of Fine Arts, Calder / Alexander Milne, Alexander Stirling, Alexander, January - February 1961, cat. no. 16, p. 9, illustrated
London, Tate Gallery, Arts Council of Great Britain, Alexander Calder: Sculpture - Mobiles, July - August 1962, cat. no. 57, p. 23, illustrated
Philadelphia, Makler Gallery, Prometheus, January 1965
Turin, Palazzo a Vela, Calder: Mostra retrospecttiva, July - September 1983, cat. no. 227, p. 130, illustrated in color

Virginia Evans, "Calder," Ameryka America Illustrated, 1957, No. 1, p. 23, illustrated
Emile Meijer, "Het Wankele Evenwicht van Sandy Calder," Kunst Beeld, September 1983, p. 27, illustrated in color
Riccardo, Venturi, ed., Alexander Calder: Scritti e Conversazioni, Milan, 2009

This work is in very good and sound condition overall. There is evidence of wear to the elements and wires, which is to be expected if a work from this period. The paint on the blue element has an uneven texture, indicating that part of the upper layer of paint has been worn. There are scattered surface abrasions and spots of paint loss to the elements and wire. *Please note the auction begins at 9:30 am on November 14th.*
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

“To come down by a movement in which gravity plays no part…Gravity makes things come down, wings make them rise: what wings raised to the second power can make things come down without weight?  Creation is composed of the descending movement of gravity, from the ascending movement of grace and the descending movement of the second degree of grace.  Grace is the law of the descending movement.  To lower oneself is to rise in the domain of moral gravity.  Moral gravity makes us fall toward the heights.” (Simone Weil, 1947)

Alexander Calder was and remains one of the quintessential American artists of the modern era. His ability to transform simple materials into spellbinding works of art is unparalleled. He rebelled against readily-accepted notions of what art could and should be and unlocked a simultaneously playful and weighty component hitherto undiscovered.

Black Cross and Red Feather of 1958 is a superb example of Calder’s blending of his two best known sculptural forms, the “mobile” and the “stabile.” Initially termed as such by his friends and contemporaries Marcel Duchamp and Jean Arp respectively, the mobiles were kinetic wire sculptures fully suspended in mid-air which spun and danced accordingly whereas the stabiles were solid, grounded works with no moving component. Occasionally, however, Calder would conflate the two types as in this present example, which functions as a sort of wall relief. The metal armature is affixed to the wall and yet all of the subsequent components are balanced delicately and free to move about. 

Calder himself was not mystical in a formal religious sense and yet much of his work can be related back to his interest in the “universe.” Indeed, the mobiles function as self contained miniature solar systems at times.  Interestingly, in the present example, Calder has taken the form of the cross as the main support structure, and the French mystic Simone Weil’s statement on the nature of gravity and weightiness seems particularly appropriate in this instance.  At once solid and airy, black and dark red and light, weighted and weightless, the work encapsulates all that is so mesmerizing about Calder’s practice.  The ethereal and invisible impulses of his mobile are simultaneously grounded in the weightiness both of the titular reference and the physical attachment to the wall.

Black Cross and Red Feather is not only an incredible example of Calder’s constantly evolving technique and artistic focus as clearly elucidated in his ability to so deftly combine the two pinnacles of his sculptural practice – the mobile and stabile – but is also one of handful of works to come from the prestigious Makler collection of Philadelphia. Mrs. Hope Makler and her husband, Dr. Paul Makler founded the eponymous gallery in 1960 as a means by which to show important artists in their hometown of Philadelphia. Both had attended the Barnes Foundation and later the University of Pennsylvania, he for a medical degree and she for a masters in art history.  From 1960 to 1985 when she shuttered the gallery, Hope Makler ran the space as a means by which to bring important artist shows from New York down to the Philadelphia gallery scene. Collaborating closely with the likes of André Emmerich and Frank Perls, Calder’s lifelong dealer until the artist’s passing, she was able to stage a number of shows which would expose the Philadelphian literati to the developments of the New York art world. This particular work has remained in the family’s collection and is a testament both to their close collaboration with the artist as well as the work’s esteemed place in their home and heart.