Lot 1
  • 1

Alexander Calder

Estimate
150,000 - 200,000 GBP
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Description

  • Alexander Calder
  • Red Skeleton
  • painted metal and wire standing mobile
  • 20 by 28.5 by 9.5cm.
  • 7 7/8 by 11 1/4 by 3 3/4 in.
  • Executed in 1945.

Provenance

Galerie Louis Carré, Paris (acquired in 1946)
Galerie Gerald Cramer, Geneva (acquired in 1948)
Private Collection (acquired from the above in 1948)
Sale: Bern, Galerie Kornfeld, 11 June, 1969, Lot 157
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Literature

Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, Galerie Louis Carré, Alexander Calder, Mobiles, Stabiles, Constellations, 1946, p. 9, illustrated in colour
Jean-Paul Sartre, “Des Mobiles”, Style en France, Vol. 2, No. 5, April 15, 1947, p. 7, illustrated
Werner Schmalenbach, Knaurs Lexikon der modernen Plastik, Munich 1960, front cover and p. 55, illustrated
Alexander Calder and Jean Davidson, Calder, an Autobiography with Pictures, New York 1966, p.190, illustrated

Condition

Colour: The colours in the illustration are fairly accurate. The overall tonality is slightly lighter in the original, particularly the orange hue of the base. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals some handling marks and a number of very minor and unobtrusive paint losses towards the edges of the base and the elements. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals some minor spots of retouching to the edges of the upper corner tips, some of which may be original.
"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

"Now the pierced elements helped to a new lyrical effect… the art lay in the suggestion of movement through the interpenetrating planes."

James Johnson Sweeney in: Exhibition Catalogue, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Alexander Calder, 1951


Alexander Calder was one of the most inventive and ground-breaking sculptors of the Twentieth Century, forging a distinctively joyful artistic language that was entirely original in conception. His development of the concept of dynamism in sculpture was utterly revolutionary, yet, to Calder, it seemed like the only logical possible creative progress, as he stated in an interview in 1932: "Why must art be static?... You look at an abstraction, sculptured or painted, an entirely exciting arrangement of planes, spheres, nuclei, entirely without meaning. It would be perfect but it is always still. The next step in sculpture is motion" (the artist, cited in: Howard Greenfeld, The Essential Alexander Calder, New York 2003, p. 67).

These three exquisite miniature pieces – Red Skeleton (1945), Red Yellow and White (1955) and Untitled (1954) – have remained in this same collection for the past forty years, and perfectly epitomise Calder’s creative ideals during a formative decade of his career. By 1943, following a major retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Calder felt that he was becoming too ‘comfortable’ in his style and technique, and sought to create even more complex sculptural creations in order to truly stretch the limits of his medium. As a result, his stabiles became more intricate, whilst an increasing use of sharply inter-penetrating shapes conveyed a greater sense of movement than had previously been the case, in contrast to the steadiness of the base. James Johnson Sweeney notes that: "Now the pierced elements helped to a new lyrical effect… the art lay in the suggestion of movement through the interpenetrating planes" (James Johnson Sweeney in: Exhibition Catalogue, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Alexander Calder, 1951).

Red Skeleton dates from this period of experimentation and consolidation and exhibits Calder’s newly favoured technique of piercing alternating forms. The gently curved half-moon shape rests on the ground whilst two smaller half-moons hang suspended in empty space within the body of the primary moon, trembling delicately when disturbed. The two Standing Mobiles display an even greater sense of kinetic magnetism than their stable counterpart. The use of wire, bounded by coloured organic forms, imbues these works with a feeling of almost irrepressible energy and displaying Calder’s ever-increasing technical prowess. The bright, joyful colours in all three examples indicate the artist’s extraordinary zest for life and his desire that his work should be enjoyed by all those who see it, declaring that "all sculpture should be painted; and whether scintillating or solemn, sculpture must be a joy to look at" (the artist, cited in: Jacob Baal-Teshuva, Alexander Calder, Cologne 2002, p. 50). This statement seems particularly apposite in relation to these three glorious works: magnificent encapsulations of Calder’s astounding creative vision.