Alexander Calder

Estimate

1,000,000 - 1,500,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

Alexander Calder
Two Polychrome Flowers with Black Leaves
signed with the artist's monogram and dated 59 on the black element with circular cut-out
painted sheet metal and wire hanging mobile
53 by 40 by 38 in. 134.6 by 101.6 by 96.5 cm.
Executed in 1959, this work is registered in the archives of the Calder Foundation, New York, under application number A05433.

Provenance

Perls Gallery, New York
Makler Gallery, Philadelphia
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York
Weintraub Gallery, New York
Pall Collection, New York
Private Collection, New York
James Goodman Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above in April 2004

Exhibited

Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, Anderson Gallery, Selections from A Private Collection of a VCU Alumnus, July - October 2004

Condition

This work is in very good and sound condition overall. The elements move smoothly and freely. There are scattered pinpoint paint losses on the rods and a few the elements.
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.

Catalogue Note

"A mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life." Alexander Calder

The levity conveyed in this proclamation by the artist is decidedly realized within the capricious character of Two Polychrome Flowers with Black Leaves (1959). Like stanzas in a poem, the lyrical succession of elements seamlessly forms an interdependent structural register. Each architectonic element borrows from the former and lends to the latter. Executed during the period when Calder's primary focus was on monumental sculpture, there is an inherent monumentality within the present work. The mobile's voluminous visual crescendo is accented with bi-colored polychrome flowers. Their very shapes and colors allude to Calder's fundamental axiom, that above all, art should be happy. The imaginative yet visual simplicity of Alexander Calder's mobiles such as Two Polychrome Flowers with Black Leaves, humbly mask the artistic genius and impressive feats of engineering which are at the very heart and soul of his uplifting sculptural tropes.